Sword Art Online: Virtual Holocaust
by Synthetic Paradise
Summary: DEAD! Sword art online was not a game of swords. It was a game of survival. Morale is a word that doesn't exist in this world. Trapped by a psychopath, the players must become one, throwing away their humanity and killing others.
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT! READ! SAO with a small (big) change and my own OC. Also, I'm thinking that if GTA V sold an estimated 11.21 million copies on the first night, then why shouldn't a VR game, which is insanely more popular, sell around the same amount. 10,000,000 people are stuck in this game because it can, and for the plot.**

XxXxXxXxXxXx

The pencil tapped against the desk.

TAP

Boredom.

Tap tap.

That's the word.

Tap tap tap.

That's the world that describes the mood of the 16 year old sophomore sitting in her math class, waiting for their dismissal to the gym for their assembly.

Tap tap tap

Anxious, that is another word to describe what she is feeling. Anxious and bored. Irritated too.

Tap tap tap.

She felt bored at having nothing to do in her current class. Lucy wasn't in this period, she didn't have her mobile, and she already knows what the teacher is talking about. Irritated: she hates school in general. If you already know most of everything the teachers are teaching you, then it is pointless to attend school. Her mother however, won't allow her to graduate early and head to college. Anxious: she is feeling extremely anxious. Her anxiety was the want; the want to put on her favorite fluffy pajamas, put on her steel helmet and visor, and enter into a new world. A world that dwarfs everything you can do in the real world. A world where you can be a hero, a queen, a ruler. Then again what does she know, she just bought the game online two weeks ago and spent 14 agonizing days waiting for the server to go on, giving the other ten million copies enough time to be sold. The game is called Sword Art Online, SAO for short. No one besides the beta testers know what the game is actually like yet. Hell, not even the beta testers. There are most likely tons of updates with many new features after the beta test was over.

It still doesn't change a thing though. The game had received many great reviews from the testers, going as far as to call it the best game they've ever and will ever play. If 1,000 people believe it is the best game ever made, then the remaining new players, including herself, are easily justified. This is why ashley is irritated, bored, and anxious. She would rather be in SAO than sitting in a classroom with nothing to do except to wait for their class to be called down to the gym for the assembly. Normally she can tolerate school, being able to hang out with her friends, use her mobile, and have fun in the activities her teachers plan. But today, her friends, her blonde haired friend Lucy specifically, wasn't in the class. She forgot her mobile at home, and none of the teachers had planned any fun activities that day because of the pointless assembly. The assembly was about staying out of gangs and drugs. But since most kids in the school have SAO, and since the school they attend is one of the best in the state, they're not very tempted into doing such things. So going to the assembly is a waste of time.

"Where the hell is Lucy?" Ashley muttered. She knew the answer to that, in another class, on a different floor of the building. "Maybe I should change classes."

"But then if you change classes I'll be lonely." the one next to her said. Sitting to her right was her friend Aaron. She met him through Lucy and they became good friends. He has brown hair spiked up with gel, black eyes, is wearing a red and black striped shirt and blue jeans. "I'll be forced to sit in this horrid class without anyone to talk to."

"At the risk of you being lonely, I think it will be worth switching classes."

"Come on don't be so down. When the assembly ends then school will be over for a whole week. Hello spring break. You get a week full of SAO

"Still. The assembly will be so long and boring. Why would they need to be talking about joining gangs and doing drugs when everyone is too preoccupied with SAO.

"Better safe than sorry I say."

"I'd say they are being more paranoid than safe. I'm more surprised that so many people in this school were able to buy the game. It's at least half."

"Well what do you expect. This is one of the most prestigious schools in Colorado. Frankly, I'm surprised that the whole student body wasn't able to get the game. I expected at least ninety percent would have gotten it. But, it's only half."

"On the bright side there are a lot of people we can trust when we get in the game." This conversation ended when their part of the building was called down for the assembly. Ashley wasn't able to find Lucy, and she lost Aaron on the way in. As promised, the principal gave a long boring speech about drug usage and gang violence followed by a thirty minute video presentation of life in a gang, followed by the appearance of a lame song and dance sequence of people dressed as "Gangsters" and as cigarettes. Ashley drowned all of this out, instead thinking of all of her plans. She has a pen pal in Japan that uses the alias Kirito. He told her about SAO, although he was pretty vague on the details since his English isn't so good. He is responsible for getting her into SAO in the first place. And she in turn got her friends into it. "It's all your fault" is what they said to her after they squealed like schoolgirls once they saw the trailer for the game. In the game you get all sorts of weapons. Swords, axes, Spears, lances, bows, and many more. That last one though is what has her excited.

As payback for getting them into SAO, her best friend Lucy got her into the Hunger Games. It was okay. The story was slightly cliche, but overall was a good series. But what really caught her interest in the story was the bow. Ever since she found out how badass someone can be with a bow and arrow, she's become obsessed with it. Not that she isn't looking forward to the other weapons, but a bow is something that she really wants to get her hands on. She would have gotten one in real life, but apparently her mom consider it a weapon.

The presentation finally ended, earning a collective sigh from the audience, and the principal asked if there were any questions. In unison, the gathered students all shouted: "NO!" the meeting was dismissed.

Ashley practically ran to her locker after the assembly ended. Her anxiousness to play SAO had grown ten fold during the assembly. In record time, she opened her locker, put on her black jacket over her blue top and went down to mid thigh of her blue jeans, took out all of her items in the locker, papers, folders, notebooks, shoved them in her backpack and closed her locker. When the door shut, she was met with Lucy who had an evil grin planted on her face with her head tilted. Ashley jumped when she saw her.

"Jesus Christ Lucy, I told you to stop doing that!" She yelled attempting to calm her rapidly beating heart. Lucy giggled and said sorry. "One of these days I'll punch you in the face, you know that right."

"Yea, but until then I think I'll have fun. So what's the plan once we get inside?"

"We meet up at the town west of the Town of Beginnings. From there I will explain the plan."

"Why don't you just explain the plan now?"

"To many ears." she looked behind Lucy, promoting her to look back. When Lucy did, several people standing nearby looked away. They were listening in on their conversation. "I'll see you there. Tell Aaron the plan, and we'll meet. Also, use your alias instead of your real name. I want to know if it is really you when we get there." they gave a good-bye and left in opposite directions. Ashley got onto her bicycle, and ride home as quickly as possible. Once there, Ashley said hi to her mom, gave a brief description on how school was, ate some food, took a shower, put on her blue pajamas, then her nervegear, and lied down on her bed. She selected the SAO game, closed her eyes, and said "Link start" she spent fifth-teen minutes choosing her language, name, and changing her character. As she advised Lucy to do last week, Ashley spent a hundred real money on buying what looked to be the most expensive of the clothing, to put to better use in the future. Her avatar wore a solid green sweater made of silk, a black knee high skirt, and battle boots. She also has "diamond" earrings and bracelets. She also bought a sword with a lot of high stats. Her avatar looks like her: tall, hourglass figure, blonde hair. The only difference is that her eyes were green instead of silver. Once that was finished, Ashley hit accept and was sent into the game.

Ashley took a moment to gain control of her body once she spawned in the game, before taking off to the town she and her friends decided to meet at. She met dozens of other players on the way there. They were either talking with friends on how great the game is, shopping for equipment, or fighting monsters. Ashley ignored them all, and focused entirely on finding her friends. Her plan is to dominate this game, and ensure that her friends are with her at the top. So she has no time to waste admiring the beautiful setting before her. In the end she couldn't help herself and lied down on the grass under a shady tree, enjoying the breeze. Once she got that out of her system, she continued her run. While running a window popped up saying New skill acquired: Runner. "So that's how it works." Ashley noted.

Eventually she found Lucy and Aaron at the edge of the next town over. Even though she changed her name to her alias, Indigo, Ashley could tell it was her by the way she constantly swooned over her new look, and the way she bounced up and down on Aaron. Indigo has shoulder length hair, same as the real world only red instead of blonde, and purple eyes. She is wearing a silk blue blouse and a thin purple jacket over it, black pants made out of something that looks and feels expensive, and battle boots. Like Ashley, she has jewelry: a diamond necklace and earrings. Aaron, not knowing a thing about fashion, just bought what looked to be very expensive. A black shirt, black pants, gray converse, and a watch. Like in real life, Aaron had brown hair, only the one in this game is longer, reaching to the bottom of his neck. (like kiritos avatar) black eyes, and high cheekbones.

"Indigo calm down." Ashley said coming to a stop before the couple. Their guard immediately rose, hands coming to the hilts of their swords.

"Who are you?" Indigo asked.

"It's me you moron, Ashley." they still had their doubts.

"What's the password?"

"I'll burn you at the stake."

"Ha! Anyone could have heard us set that-" quicker than they could follow, Ashley unsheathed her sword and held it at Indigo's neck.

"I will literally burn you at the stake if you don't believe me." Indigo eeped. Aaron couldn't help himself and started laughing. Ashley glared at him, but that just made it more funny. Eventually Aaron calmed down.

"Easily angered, blonde hair, wants to hurt Indigo whenever she does something stupid. That's definitely Ashley." Ashley sighed in relief. She really didn't want to start off the game with a red player mark. Without warning, Indigo threw her arms around Ashley's neck. The moron finally realized it was the real Ashley.

"OhmygodAshleyyourhereYoulooksoprettyWhy'dyoutrytostabmeThatwassoscaryDont'tEVERdothatagainEeepi'msoexcited-" Ashley got annoyed and pinched Indigo's lips shut.

"It's only been half an hour and you're already being annoying? Ugh." she released the redhead. Indigo blushed, embarrassed from her sudden rant. She couldn't help herself. This is the first VR game she's ever played. The most realistic graphics she has ever seen in a game. Feeling the wind, touching the grass, smelling the air. This game is better than any 3d or attempted 4d movie she has ever seen. How could anyone not get excited at being here? Then again she did eat four sugar sticks, drank three cans of soda, and a pack of gum before she got here. For all they know she could be on a sugar high. But considering her track record, they're leaning towards her 'can't stay still at anything' attitude.

"So what's the plan oh glorious leader?" Aaron received a punch in return.

"We need to head to the nearest tailor." Ashley began walking and the other two followed. They had no idea what to do in this game so they might as well follow an expert. Or the closest thing they have to an expert. "I based my plan on what my pen pal told me. When we start a game, we are equipped with a sword. And when we get to the weapons store, our first purchase is free. But the weapons are pretty weak. But when we go back, new more advanced weapons appear. What sucks is that they cost a lot of money. So my plan is to sell all the clothes and weapons we have and purchase even better weapons and armor. That way we'll increase our level faster. We need get to the tailor so we can buy the cheapest clothes they have. That will allow us to have a ton left to buy our necessary equipment."

"You mean we bought all these awesome clothes for nothing? But I look so good in this! You know how much this will cost in the real world?"

"Several thousand, maybe more. Don't worry, after we kill all those mobs, we'll have enough coin to buy clothes that will make celebrities clothes look like cocaine addicts." Ashley looked over her shoulder and gave the two a smile that said "We'll be Gods in this game." her friends took the smile in their hands, and put all their faith and trust in it. She may be cocky, but she's also good at what she does. Ashley is smarter than the average person. Not on genius level but enough to be able to graduate early by Junior year. When someone like that gives advice, it is considered insanity to not take it. Not to mention the relationship the three had with each other. Indigo and Aaron had met before they met Ashley. It is the classical childhood friends become a couple type deal. Then she met Ashley at a coffee shop. No she did not accidentally spill coffee on her. Instead, Ashley screamed at Indigo something along the lines of "make up your mind bitch, I don't have all day. My lunch is in five minutes". It went all downhill from there, causing the two to beat the shit out of each other. Several people had tried to intervene, but all they got was a broken nose and a concussion. The police had to break them up. While in a holding cell waiting for their parents to bail them out, the two had a heart to heart, and became friends. Aaron bailed them both out posing as their parents, along with a friend. A relationship like that runs deep. Almost as deep as family, even deeper than hell. And trust me when I say: hell is extremely deep.

The guys arrived at the store and did what Ashley told them. Using the 200 Col they receive at the beginning of the game, traded their fancy expensive clothes for cheaper, less than impressive ones. Ashley now had a torn faded red shirt, black knee length shorts and brown boots. No jewelry. Indigo got a gray thin cotton tank, which offers little to no warmth at night as she will find out later, and black shorts and boots. Aaron got a black sleeveless practically see through black shirt, brown pants, and black boots. After changing into their cheap clothes, they sold their expensive clothes. Ashley got 60,000 Col for hers, Indigo got 45,000, and Aaron apparently choose the right outfit as he got 76,000. Next they went to the armory and bought armor and weapons.

Ashley took a lot of precautions when it came to defense. One's defense is as important as their offense. So, she got a thick leather vest, and bronze chain mail. Aaron and Indigo got the same kind of armor. She also got a black coat lined with leather. With defense out of the way, she turned to her weapons choices. Sadly, she did not meet the requirements for a bow. Not only did she not have the proper funds, but she had to have a weapons throwing skill at level twenty to be able to get one. It didn't make her fret though; you win some you lose some is her saying. Instead she got a Longsword with a lot of high stats: a greater noob Blade. Although the name of the bronze sword was a little offensive, it still had great stats for a beginning sword. Because of her height, (5'9") she was able to unsheath the sword with no problem. The only problem was the weight. It is really heavy. So much that she struggles to hold it and can barely hold it up in a defensive position for ten seconds. She's going to have to use the 5 points she gets when she levels up to increase her strength.

Next was Indigo. She got the same armor as Ashley, minus the coat. She decided to get a short sword: a normal short noob blade. She is the shortest of the group (5'3") so she can't carry the big weapons. Instead, she plans to focus on her speed to win a battle, using hit and run tactics so she won't get any damage. She also got a shield on her left hand. The shield is round with a red leaf in the middle of it. It is big enough to cover a sixth of her body when held in front of her, and surprisingly light. Yet, it still had a high defense. Almost equal to the leather vest. She only plans to use the shield when something gets past her defense, otherwise it'll be ignored.

Lastly Aaron. He is embarrassingly shorter than Ashley (Only by an inch but his man pride made him fume wherever it was mentioned) That didn't stop him from purchasing a long sword too, also a Noob Blade. The only difference is that he is able to hold the sword with no problem. In regards to defense Aaron is more of an offensive type player. He'd rather dodge and attack than block. So he got the same armor as the others, but didn't get a shield. He used the money he has left over to buy an upgrade on his sword: +7 damage. The group also purchased a map of the world.

"Holy shit this place is huge!" Indigo said. She held the map projector, a diamond shaped device, in her hand. The redhead swiped the map to the right to see the next area. She did it again. And again and again. The world of SAO is so large that it requires you to swipe the map many times in a direction, 200 in Indigo's case, to get to the edge of the map. Every centimeter on the map was a mile. Ashley, using her super smart, and to some people sexy, brain of hers did the math and found the map to be the same size as China. Three and a half million square miles across. Every so often you come across a circular line with a number on it. Ashley deduced that these lines represent the difficulty level. The larger the number the stronger the mobs there are.

"It's certainly different from what Kirito told me." Ashley didn't know weather to be disappointed at the wrong information, or happy at the thought of an unknown challenge. "The map is completely different. Last time there were floors, levels. We would have to beat the boss to advance to the next floor. Kayaba must have just put all the floors together." Aaron shook his head, already finding a flaw in the new game structure.

"Then what's the point of the game? If this kayak-"

"Kayaba-"

-"person got rid of the levels, then what is the goal of the game? Aren't we supposed to beat the game?"

"Normally yeah. It is weird, but maybe there are quests that give you bosses or something. That's not the only thing that's changed. When at the armory, I noticed that there were sticks and stones and pieces of metal. They cost several hundred Col, way more than anyone can currently afford. But when we got to our swords, the price skyrocketed. Even the wood and stone swords cost several thousand. And we were barely able to afford these low level steel swords. I scrolled up and saw there were weapons with stats way higher than the ones were holding. It means-"

"Kayaba has turned SAO into minecraft 2.0." Indigo finished. "If Ashley hadn't come up with this amazing plan, we would have to find sticks and stones and make our weapons out of that once our free and given weapons' durability ran out. We're basically the strongest players in the game with these weapons. Has anything else changed Ashley?"

"Yeah. Kirito told me that when you spawn you're supposed to arrive in a giant town. But the one we spawned in couldn't be any larger than a few miles. And the one we're currently in," she gestured her arm to the town behind her. "Isn't any bigger than a country village you'd find on the way back to civilization. So it's safe to say that there aren't many towns or buildings out there. Just like in minecraft, we have to make our buildings or find random villages out in the world." The others caught on with what she was saying. This game is now truly a survival game where you have to make your own weapons. They got lucky with the brilliant plan they came up with. If not, they'd be as weak as a beginner player fighting mobs with a stick with and rock at the end.

"So," Aaron started. "Since there are no buildings or giant towns, or there are but they are rare, what does the map look like?"

"Probably an ecosystem. Forests, deserts, grasslands. Nature dominates the land. There is probably wildlife to hunt for food. A VRMMO of minecraft is basically what we're playing. The only difference being way harder. Still, a games a game. I say stick to our original plan."

"And that would be?"

"Find the closest monsters, and level up as much as we can. It takes so long to level in this game. It took Kirito three weeks to get to level seven, and the other players took months to get to level five. The only reason Kirito leveled so fast is because he's the best gamer there is."

"Did he really say that about himself?"

"No, he just said he was good at the game. He is a very modest person, that's what I got from his messages. He won't admit that he's one of the best. Where was I? Oh yeah! Considering what we've seen so far, leveling up will be even more difficult than it was before. Even with our weapons it will take forever to increase our stats. C'mon, let's go somewhere else." Indigo looked at the map and found a field close by. The three friends ran in that direction. On their way, Indigo and Aaron gained the Runner skill.

They arrived at the field, full of wolf mobs. They arrived in time to see another player lose all his HP by getting bitten by multiple wolves at once. Instead of charging in, they decided to test how things works. Ashley explain to the others that you must do something that unlocks a new skill, like running. When Ashley swung her said from right to left, a window appeared saying she unlocked the skill Horizontal slash. She did up and down, and got Vertical Slash. For the next hour they tested things out to get a feel for the game and new skills. At the end the skills unlocked were Runner skill, Horizontal slash, Vertical Slash, Jump, Run-jump, Punch, Uppercut, Rapid Punch Combo, Kick, Roundhouse kick, Jump Kick, and Weapon throwing, Ashley being the only one to get the latter because it is required to use the bow. All these skills were practiced to do more damage in a future fight. Once finished, they ran to the middle of the field and killed as many mobs as could. Ashley was the first to make contact. She came into the wolf's field of vision, provoking the mob to attack. The wolf charged at her. At the last second before it could attack her, she stepped to the side and swung in the Horizontal Slash skill. The sword cut straight through the wolf, and it exploded in a burst of red particles. The window came up saying she won 20 col and 50exp. Aaron and Indigo cheered from the sidelines. First kill goes to Ashley. Motivated by their friend, Indigo and Aaron followed her league.

When the virtual sunset appeared hours later, each of them had advanced to level 2. Apparently making a lot of noise, in this case killing a lot of wolves, attracted the attention of more mobs. So the three friends didn't need to move from their spot.

"As of now, we are the strongest ones in this game." Ashley said. The friends lie under the shade of a tree, staring at the sun set over a large lake. After a long days work, they felt they had deserved a break. With the hordes of mobs spawning constantly, they admittedly bit off more than they could chew. That was a mistake that should be watched for in the future. "It was kind of too easy. I bet we're even stronger than Kirito."

"Do you think he managed to get a sword?" asked Indigo. She's heard so much of this Kirito that she wants to see and challenge him. The modest gentlemen, the powerful warrior that took down a boss by himself, kind of cute. Seeing what he is like would be great. And she'd hate for him to fall behind them by a disadvantage. If she does find him, she will give him the necessary advice to get strong.

"Maybe a wooden or stone sword. Even if he did, it's handmade so it won't last long. I would give it a few kills before it breaks, maybe more if he is lucky. Hopefully we'll see him in the future." Ashley got off the ground, stretching to remove all the kinks in her body. "I think we've accomplished a lot today, let's go back home." Indigo and Aaron agreed, stood up and opened the menu, their destination being the logout button. Seconds later all three found the button to be non existing.

"Anyone else not see the logout button?" Aaron asked. The other two answered no.

"That's not a good thing is it?" Indigo asked. No one answered but it was enough of an answer. Something was wrong.

"I don't know what the problem is," Ashley said. "But it is a big problem. The only way to leave the game is the logout button. If it isn't there, then we'll need to kill each other, but it'll just take us back to the starting city."

"Then how do we get out of here?" Indigo asked.

"We need to wait. The managers may have realized the mistake and is working hard to fix the problem. It did take two weeks to get the server up and running, so there is bound to be some problems. This is a big one though so it should be solved soon. Worst case scenario, they forcefully log everyone out and shut the game down till it is fixed." before the other two can reply, a loud humming noise filled their ears followed by their bodies being enveloped in a bright blue light.

SAO OAS SAO OAS SAO OAS

Kirito was finally finished. Although he had some nasty surprises when he found the game to be different than it was from the beta test, it didn't change his attitude. The game being harder just made it even more fun. He embraced the difficulty with open arms, and whispered in its ear, "throw everything you have at me." Kirito quickly adapted to the games new set of rules and began creating a sword. Using some copper he, ahem, "acquired" from some pipes he found on the buildings, he and a noob name Klein managed to make somewhat respectable weapons. It took hours but Kirito heated the metal in a fire till it was malleable, and hammered it with a rock into a shape of a triangle. He took the metal sheet, put it on a wooden branch he ripped off from a tree, and tied it together with a vine. Kirito tapped on the weapon with his index finger making a window pop up saying "are you finished?" he clicked yes. The weapon glowed green, and when it stopped glowing a Crusty Copper Blade took its place. He also made a spear with a copper end for Klein called a Castle Spear. But because of his lack of crafting skills, the stats were awfully low on both weapons. It would take a wooden or stone weapon more than forty hits to kill the weakest of mobs. With the sword it would be less, but still a pain to beat.

"Okay listen up Klein." Kirito said to get his attention who was currently practicing his spear thrust. Kirito felt the need to teach this man as much as possible. While slightly disappointed that a beta tester isn't as pro as he thought they'd be, he still stuck to Kirito's side. If anyone can help him survive it would be him. So Klein pushed his complaints to the deepest part of his memory, and asked Kirito to teach him everything. In turn, Kirito took Klein under his tutelage. Even though Klein knows Kirito can't help him with much, he still asked for kids advice. That is the best enthusiasm anyone could have. In the real world, if Klein were to take an exam to see if he qualifies to be Kirito's apprentice, he would pass with flying colors. "Right now we are as weak as NPC who cannot fight but are just there for show. In order to survive we need to train as hard as we can. We need to go non stop fighting if we want to be high level players. For the next few months until everyone is able to fight mobs beyond the first difficulty area, level ten will count as high level players. All we need to do is reach that mark then we can do whatever we want."

"Alright dude, I understand. Whatever you think is best. So what's our plan of attack?"

"We need to find a bunch of mobs and take them out. I recommend getting to level 2 before the day is up. Tomorrow you should push for getting halfway through the second level and finish it up the next day. Until we can get better equipment, this is the plan we should stick to." Klein nodded. He didn't have a better plan so might as well.

"Are we going to leave before your sister comes back?"

"Suguha can handle herself. She's been practicing sword play even before knowing of this game. Heh, she practically begged me to buy her a nervegear once she heard there are swords on this game. Don't worry about her. She used real money to buy a high stat sword. No one in this game can touch her. Not even me until I get proper equipment and level up. She's off killing mobs. In fact, we should too unless we want her to get ahead of us." the males shivered at the thought. Nothing is scarier than a woman... except for a woman with power.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to killing." Kirito nodded, and the two raced to the nearest field. The field they came to was covered in blood and wolf carcass. "Seems like someone got here before us. Think it was your sister?" Kirito shook his head.

"Suguha is quite shy. She would not have the willpower to do something this brutal to any mob, no matter how vicious or ugly it is." he explained this as he knelt down to inspect one of the wolves. He tapped on the dead body, making a window pop up giving him the options take wolf meat or take wolf fur. The swordsman choose the latter, and the wolf vanished. When he checked his inventory, he found a wolf pelt X1. "So that's how we get extras like meat for food in this game, or an extra item like a fur pelt."

"You can also get both if you want." Klein called a few feet away. The window in front of him had the same options that Kirito had except Klein taped on both the options and pushed okay. When he checked his inventory he had both the pelt and the wolf meat.

"Alright, we know how it works. All we need to do is train ourselves to death." Klein gave an excited shout before running to the nearest field with wolves, then ran back once he found out the wolves were far stronger than he had thought. Seeing that they need to fight something weaker, they went to a field with boars instead of wolves, and spent hours fighting in an attempt to level up, which they didn't. When the sun was setting, the two had only gain a few thousand exp points, and barely a thousand Col. "Okay, I have good news and bad news. The good news is we know how to play and the attack patterns of the boar, so next time we can gain levels quicker. The bad news is we didn't gain any levels, and it takes forever to kill a boar so you can only fight one at a time before you get overwhelmed."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Kirito is going to hate himself for saying this, but didn't have much of a choice.

"Klein, I'm a solo player, even during the beta test." he didn't need to say any more. Klein understood, lowering his head in sadness. "I've taught you everything I can. The best course of action is for you to grab a couple of friends and help you level. But as a solo player you will just be holding me back."

"It's okay bro, I understand." while sad, Klein knew Kirito had no choice in the matter. Solo players don't like to interact with others in game. It is a natural thing he can't control. In real life a solo player would have been dying to hang with his friends. But in here, he can't help but separate himself from others. "It's a natural solo player reflex. Thanks for that." Klein held out his hand and the two players touched fists. Klein announced he was going to logout in order to get to his pizza. Before doing this he gave a friend request to Kirito who accepted. Klein then found out that the logout button wasn't there. The two went through three minutes of freaking out, Klein, or trying to figure out the problem, Kirito. Kirito was in the process of stabbing Klein to log him out, at the former's request, when a flash of light sent them elsewhere. The next moment they found themselves in a grassy field so large that it's all they can see for miles. Ashley and her friends also appeared in the field, along with the other thousands of SAO players in the game. No one knew what was going on and was really fucking mad at having been taken from what they were doing. Several minutes later when all the players were finished teleporting, the sky turned red and began bleeding. The blood coalesced until it took the shape of a person in a red cloak.

"Greetings people of Aincrad. I am Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of this fine game. You may notice that there is no logout button…" the creator went into a long explanation of how they are trapped in the game and can't get out, and if their nerve gear is taken off or they lose their life points, microwaves will attack the brain, effectively killing the body. Everyone was in denial until Ashley and Kirito, both separated by thousands of other players, explained that it is capable of doing so. Their explanation spread to all the other players in minutes. "If you want to escape the game, it is quite simple. The current population, after all the accidental deaths, is 9,824,556. The logout button will only appear on the players who kill 10,000 other players, or if the total game population hits 10,000." the whole field went silent for a moment. Indigo even dropped to her knees, dragging Aaron down with her. Ashley stayed standing, but didn't move. Her feet were locked in place, as was her eyes and agape, mouth. She stared off into space as her mind raced.

For the first several seconds she was in denial. This couldn't be happening. It isn't possible. No one is cruel enough to do this. How much of the world outside will be changed, especially the economy since the company that designed the game held a lot of important companies shares, which will more than likely be dropped by the governments. A lot of jobs will be vacant, and no matter what the profession, will have a huge impact on life outside. Especially those with family members. Family. Ashley's eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. It didn't matter to her if this was real or not anymore. All she could think about was her beautiful, blonde single mother of one. She is a workaholic in order to her only child what she wants and needs. She had lost a husband and a kid in a miscarriage, and now she is going to lose her teenage daughter. She will leave this game, for no other reason than to be there for her mother.

Aaron went into stoic mode. When like this, he's serious, cold, cruel and heartless. He thought things from a logical perspective and analyzed everything that Kayaba said. He looked at the present, near and far future of their lives until he came up with the perfect solution to ensure his and his friends survival. If the only way out is to kill others, then he'll do so. Ten thousand will fall by his sword, and twenty more thousand for the others. As of now, he'll show no mercy to those around him. Everyone is an enemy and will be dealt with of necessary. No one will be spared no matter the gender, race, religion, affiliation. Even age. He estimates that anywhere from fifty to a hundred thousand children under the age of twelve have bought this game. They will be the easiest ones to kill.

Indigo, although looking shocked in the outside, was actually dancing in the inside. She was jumping up and down, pumping her fists in the air, laughing hysterically and smiling madly. She is excited. A new challenge has come to her attention. Kill ten thousand other players, survive long enough the others to die do many people to fuck. This isn't a punishment, a prison, or a game of death. It is life. Life where you get to fly, use magic, swing swords, kill monsters, and kill others. It is life, only better, more fun, and less consequences. Indigo did everything in her power to not burst out laughing. If she does, then she'll be a target by other players. The silence ended and was replaced by a deafening roar.

"You can't be serious!"

"Let us out of here!"

"I have to go to work tomorrow!"

"You can't do this to us!" Similar comments rang out from every player who was not cowering in fear, while Kayaba stared down quietly, waiting for them to calm down. It was five minutes later when he realized that they won't be calming down anytime soon. So he opened his menu, went to a skill, and hit the Screech skill. All of the players grabbed their heads as an unbearable screeching sound blasted through the air, piercing their heads with pain. All of them had their life points go down halfway because of the skill. When he was satisfied, he canceled the skill and continued. "This field you're currently standing in will be known as the Field of Slaughter. The reason is because no one is allowed to leave this field until 5,000 people are killed. Also, there is a little present in your inventory." all the players opened their inventory to find a mirror that turned them back to their normal selves. A lot were disappointed when they turned back to their boring selves, or changed back to their real sex. "The next time I see you will be when you leave the game. At that point, I'll have a surprise for you. Till then." with that parting comment, Kayaba vanished in a cloud of red smoke, leaving the players in a stunned silence.


	2. Chapter 2

"The next time I see you will be when you leave the game. At that point, I'll have a surprise for you. Till then." with that parting comment, Kayaba vanished in a cloud of red smoke, leaving the players in a stunned silence.

Moments later everyone began talking about what they should do. A giant debate broke out. Some wanted to call the police even though it was not possible, some just wanted to leave the field and continue to play and ignore what they thought to be a cruel joke, and about a thousand of the many desperate believers wanted to make a sacrifice by killing 5,000 people like Kayaba asked for. These players would soon make up the beginning members of the guild known as Laughing Coffin. Eventually though, a large group of a few hundred came to the agreement to send a scouting party to find the edge of the field to see if they are allowed to leave. Ashley, Indigo, and Aaron went along with them, wanting to level up if what Kayaba said is true. Kirito heard the words level up leave her mouth and too joined the search team along with Klein. The large team split up into four parties, each one suppose to go either North, South, East, or West. Ashley and her friends went east.

"What do you think about all of this?" Aaron asked Ashley in a low voice. Although he was sceptical about what Kayaba said, he didn't want the others to hear if it turns out to be true. "What should we do?"

Just as quiet as Aaron, she replied, "It is possible for the nervegear to fry your brain with microwaves. Kayaba could easily make you losing all your hp the trigger for your brain to be fried. If you're great at programming then you could certainly do it. This along with the fact that we don't have a logout button is evidence enough that this is real."

"Then what's our plan?"

"We get stronger that's what." Indigo answered. "Just like in a zombie apocalypse, you have two enemies. The zombies, which in this case would be the mobs, and other people. We need to separate ourselves from everyone else and get stronger. Otherwise, we'll be killed easily. If we're strong enough then we won't have to kill anyone because once they see our level they won't try to attack us. Strength is the key weapon in this death game. As soon as we leave this field, we fight all the mobs we can and level up." Indigo looked to Ashley for confirmation, the latter nodding a yes. A dozen people away walked Kirito and Klein. Kirito just finished explaining how it is possible for the helmet to kill you.

"Then what is the plan?" although it was cruel to say, Kirito said the same thing he said last time.

"I'm a solo player Klein. I can't help you with anything. Once I find my sister, I will help her get stronger."

"Th-That's just wrong. Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Find those friends of yours and stick with them. They will help you survive if this is real. Remember what I taught you, and don't trust anyone besides those you know you can trust. Watch everyone as if they are going to pull out a sword and stab you. You can follow me if you want but in the end I will leave when you are not looking." Klein saw how serious he is. He had no choice but to accept it. An hour and several miles later they came to the edge of the field which was covered by a green energy shield.

"This whole field is probably under a giant dome right now and won't vanish unless 5,000 people die inside." a random person guessed.

"Or we can just cut the damn thing down!" another player ran towards the shield with his stone sword drawn. He was about to use the skill Horizontal Slash, but when he got within five feet of it, green spikes shot of the the shield and impaled his body. He coughed up blood then said, "Yep. It's real." before falling down dead. Just like the mobs his body did not vanish, leaving a bleeding corpse for the group to clean up. Several of them threw up while the others considered what their next action should be. Even though this doesn't confirm it completely, the guys last words before dying made them agree that it is real. Because of the guilt, the group decided to take the body back to the others. A lift was created using extra clothing from the players in order to carry the body, and the party made the long trek back to the others.

When they arrived, they were immediately bombarded with questions about what they saw or how did the guy die. The other groups also came back, each of them with a corpse, and after much talking between the groups, announced that the death game was indeed real and the force field won't disappear unless they do what Kayaba said and kill 5,000 others. Although it was on everyone's mind, no one was brave enough to suggest killing other people. The ones that would make up laughing didn't want to say it. They knew killing others is the only way to leave, both the field and the game. Everyone knew but no one wanted to voice it. The only thing to do was wait for someone else to say it.

At night large fires were made from the few dozen trees in the field, each one gaining a few thousand to sit around them. Although large, the fires did not support everyone with warmth and light. Some had to sit away from the fire in the cold. The next morning you would either wake up sweaty and sticky, or cold and damp. Frankly, no one will get a good night's sleep.

In the present meanwhile, Ashley and her group remained in the shadows. The group had agreed to separate themselves from the others. The two ways to survive is to either stick with the ones you trust in order to protect yourselves, or stick with the large groups to level up together, the former being their choice.

"Someone needs to die." Ashley suggested. Indigo and Aaron couldn't say it better themselves. "We're not getting out of here unless the 5,000 are killed. if we don't we could remain here forever and not level up at all."

"Does that mean we can't just stay here?" Aaron asked. She shook her head.

"No. There is no lake in this field to keep us hydrated and no mobs of any kind to give us food. We'll die of starvation or dehydration. If you look in the bottom right of your peripheral, you'll see a blue and purple bar. The blue is your hydration meter and the purple is your hunger. If either of them go below 20 percent, your movement, skills, and other things are affected. You won't move as quickly, don't do as much damage, can't think properly, and intense pain. If one or the other reaches zero, your HP begins to drop, slowly at the, then increases every six hours until they drop as if you're getting hit by a mob, then bam, you're dead."

"How do you know all this?"

"It's in the guide book in your inventory." Indigo said opening her inventory to show Aaron where it is. "Full of tips and strategies on how to survive, put together from info by the beta testers and from Kayaba himself." Aaron took out the book and began reading as Ashley continued.

"All it will take is two deaths. Then, a chain reaction will occur that will get everyone to kill other people until they come to the realization that they are actually killing them. But by then, it will have already been too late and thousands of people will die. We might actually get lucky. If one person kills one person, the the numbers will be cut in half and we will only have less than five million players to kill. The plan is to get someone and kill him, maybe in a large crowd so that way everyone will question everyone. If it goes according to plan, they'll all turn on each other."

"Sounds like a plan, but there is just one flaw." Aaron paused for dramatic effect. "Do any of us have the guts to take a life?" that one piece of logic made their plan look way harder than it sounded. Do they have it in them to kill someone? If they freeze up before they make a kill, or miss the vital spot for the instant kill, someone will see that they tried to kill and will in turn kill them instead. The chain reaction may still begin but they wouldn't be alive to see it. Everything counts on their ability to kill.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ashley said. That's all they can do really. They figured that unless in the moment, neither of them would have the guts to do it.

"You mind if we sit here?" the group turned to the newcomers face and saw Kirito and Diabel side by side staring at them with an awkward smile, waiting for an answer. These two had just met each other and were loners. With no where else to go, they found the one other group of loners and asked to join. They just happened to arrive at the same time. They saw no reason why not, and allowed the two to sit. "So what are you guys discussing? Must be something important with the serious looks on your face."

"We're talking about our plan to kill five thousand people in order to get out of here." Aaron and Indigo stared open mouth at Ashley having just confessed their plan to a couple of strangers. Before they could call her out on it, they saw the amused smile on Kirito and Diabel's faces. The two thought she was joking. Kirito held in his laugh long enough to reply.

"Oh? Please enlighten us on how you would do that without everyone else noticing. I might have to kill you for confessing." Ashley raised her hands as if she's been caught, a smile etched onto her face.

"No please don't kill me! I have so much to live for. I haven't watched the Mockingjay part two yet." her ridiculous plea had all of them laughing hard enough to hold their sides. In these times, a laugh will be worth thousands and will be cherished. Soon, there won't be much to laugh about. "No, we're just discussing how long it will take before someone cracks and kills someone. We estimate it will be in the next three days."

"What is this based on?" Ashley told them of the hunger and dehydration limits. Kirito nodded in agreement. The logic was there, all they needed was the action. "Sounds about right. So we should be on the lookout for the next few days. We know when it will happen, but we don't know who will do it or who the victim will be. It could be anyone of us. We'll just need to keep our guard up."

"It doesn't stop there." said Aaron is his most serious voice. Out of the three, Aaron is the most serious. He can have as much fun as the next guy, but when it comes to important matters, he always status focused on it, never giving in to jokes of lightening up.

"What do you mean?" Diabel asked with a confused and slightly fearful look on his face. Based on Aaron's expression, he knew some serious shit is about to be discussed.

"Let me start by asking you a question: do you have the mental ability to kill someone?" the question caught them both off guard as they went into thought on the subject. Diabel was the first to speak.

"I'd probably be able to in the heat of the moment. Other than that, I'd never be able to." Aaron nodded and looked to Kirito.

"If it was a life or death situation, or endangered my family or friends then I'd be able to kill no problem." the brown head sighed while shaking his head.

"You're going to want to change that in the next few days."

"Why's that?"

He took a deep breath and explained. "When the first kill happens, it won't end there. The first kill will most likely be in front of everyone else. They'll see him kill the other, and go insane. Immediately, a war will break out and everyone will try to kill each other. It will be a bloodbath. You either need to be able to run really quickly or have it in you to kill someone. Actually you'll have to kill a lot of people that day in order to defend yourself. So you're going to have to look deep inside yourself and see if you are actually capable." this little speech put all of them in silence. Aaron sure does know how to ask a question. Each looked inside wondering if they really do have what it takes. "Just a little food for you. I'd recommend thinking about it tonight." unexpectedly, Aaron chucked surprising them all. "Listen to me! I haven't even known you for five minutes and I'm already lecturing you. I don't even know your name. I'm Aaron."

"I'm Indigo."

"Ashley."

"The names Diabel. Pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Kirito." the name made the eyes of Ashley and her friend bug out as they stared at him

"Did you say Kirito?" Ashley asked as she found her voice.

"Yeah." in a split second Ashley went from her spot on the grass to Kirito's lap as she threw her arms over his neck. The sudden tackle sent the stunned Kirito to the ground.

"Oh kirito! It's so great to see you." the latter was so confused. Ashley realized he must not know who she is since he hadn't hugged get back and pulled away. "I'm sorry you must be so confused. I'm your pen pal Ashley." this brought a shocked look on the swordsman face, but it quickly changed to a smile.

"Ashley it's you!" Kirito returned the hug and the two rolled on the ground laughing. The eventually pulled away with smiles on their faces, staring into the others eyes. Suddenly Kirito was hit with guilt. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I got you into this game and into this mess. It's all my fault. if you hadn't contacted me you wouldn't-"

"Shut up." the blonde kissed him straight on the lips. The player was shocked momentarily before returning it with just as much vigor. They lied there for who knows how long (a minute since they lost track of time) kissing as passionately as if they were two lovers who haven't seen each other in years, using tongue and groping. Eventually the others inner PDA kicked in, and they coughed loudly, getting the two lovers out of their love induced trance. They blushed and pulled away, but that didn't mean she had to get off his lap.

"You never told me you guys had an intimate relationship." Indigo said, already thinking of ways to tease her friend.

"We're not, but it was the only way I could think of to get him to shut up"

"Then why are you still sitting in his lap?" looking down, she realized that she indeed was still in his lap. Kirito blushed when he realized this, but Ashley just shrugged.

"He's comfy." and snuggled closer to him. "If I play my cards right, this man will do whatever I say. I need to keep up this act." everyone, except for Diabel, had someone to snuggle up with and was kept warm. Diabel got a cold.

The next day was torture. No one had any food to eat, and all didn't get a good nights sleep. Frankly, everyone was pissed, hungry and thirsty, and scared. For the day, Ashley spent her time getting Kirito to fall in love with her. He said he would kill anyone who posed a threat to his family or friends, so if she got him to fall in love with her, he would sacrifice himself for her. The perfect pawn to get what she wants. While she seduced him, Indigo and Aaron improved their plan to kill someone. The plan is to lure someone away from the main group and kill him. Kirito will arrive and he sees Ashley lying next to a dead body crying and says that Diabel killed him then tried to kill her, but they held them off. Kirito will then head back to the field and kill Diabel in front of everyone. The riot will begin and people will die. The plan was put into effect the next day.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Klein felt his time in the game just got better. A pretty blonde girl named Ashley just asked him to come with her to find some food to eat. Just in time too. His food and hydration bar has just entered the red. Also, ever since Kirito left him, he's been feeling a little depressed. The kid just abandoned him! Klein put his fate into the kids hands, and Kirito in turn threw it on the floor saying he's got better things to do. Klein mentally signed. He needed this to cheer him up. Spending an hour or two with this pretty girl and getting some food in his system will do him some good and will really lift his spirits. With a new attitude he could clear his mind enough to train and get stronger. He can focus on the positives.

Ashley on the other hand, was mentally freaking out. Luckily she took acting classes and is able to put up a happy facade for Klein. In her mind, she was trying to calm herself on the fact that she is about to kill someone. How should she do it? When is the perfect time to do it? What is she misses? Will he try to kill her if she does? These questions swam through her head constantly as they walked towards the small pack of trees in the distance. Ashley tried to focus on what Aaron told her before she left.

Flashback

Aaron and Ashley sat across from each other over a campfire in the middle of the night. Tomorrow she would be taking another life, and had to know what she should expect during and after. So she went to Aaron, the closest person she has to a psychologist and philosopher. And also the only person in their little group who's killed someone. Aaron had to go into his serious mode to explain this to her. The blonde hates it when he does this. Usually, Aaron almost always has a smile on his face. He laughs, his eyes since brightly with emotion, his voice so alive with affection for life, that it can light up a room in seconds. Everyone is always happy around him. So seeing his stoic face void of emotion, the monotone voice leaving his lips, and the cold empty eyes staring into her soul, drains all the joy from her body, placing her in the deepest pit of sorrow. She hates seeing him so void and empty when she is so used to his happy face. It drives her to the point where she is angry and desperate to get that face back, not satisfied until a smile is on his face and a laugh escapes his lips. Even then, it shakes her enough that she needs to have a really great laugh with her friends or family, or watch a funny worry free cartoon. Ashley endured it for now though. He had info vital to their plan and can't afford to not have it.

"The act of killing someone is easy. All of us can do it when pumped full of adrenaline. A person can easily kill dozens of people for their first time, and not feel an ounce of regret. It is after you kill someone that is bad. You feel sick to your stomach. Your mind will race. You will question your place in the world after taking a life, thinking that why should someone like you be allowed to take another's life. You might even throw up. For the next few weeks you'll have nightmares that will not go away for a long time, or until you kill enough people that you get used to it. This is the result of most people. There are those very few though that find no problems with killing others. It depends on the person really. Otherwise, you should not worry yourself at this point."

"Okay, then, at what point should I be worried about myself?" she wasn't going to ask a quest before, but hearing the keywords "at this point" touched her curiosity. Aaron reached over the fire and placing his hands on her shoulders in a firm grip and looking her in the eyes.

"When you begin to enjoy killing."

End flashback.

Ashley and Klein reached the trees to find that they have a strange purple fruit hanging on the branches. Klein picked the closest one to him and took a bite. It tastes sweet like grapes but were hard to chew like the hard gum you get from Halloween. Klein finished his and a window popped up in front of him. He didn't bother reading it, swiping it away in favor of throwing a much fruit in his inventory. Klein remained fully occupied on taking the fruit, put effort into grabbing the hard to reach ones and placing them in his inventory without a care in the world, while Ashley put little effort in it, instead looking at Klein from the corner of her eye for the perfect time to kill him. Klein talked to her while doing this. Saying something about a pizza guy and ginger ale. Ashley fake chuckled when he laughed and nodded and smiled when he looked at her. After a long agonizing thirty seconds, the opportunity came. Klein saw what looked to be a coconut hanging at one of the high branches. No matter how high he jumped it stayed out of his reach. So Klein took the spear from his inventory and got on the tip of his toes to knock it down. He was so intent on it that Ashley attacked.

It didn't go well though. She fumbled in taking the sword out of the sheave because of the length and how nervous she was. Her sweaty hands finally took the sword out and she took another five seconds to hold it correctly then swung it in a diagonal downward slash. At the point Klein knocked the coconut down. Her sword went through it slowing the slash enough for Klein to see what she was doing. Klein acted on instinct and jumped backwards to avoid it. He didn't Jump fast enough and received a long shallow cut on his body that knocked him to the ground and the spear from his hand. Klein ignored the pain and stared at the blonde in shock. She just tried to kill him! The blonde held the sword in both hands breathing heavily and sweating buckets. Ashley mentally slapped herself for messing up. Ashley charged again with a Vertical Slash. Klein came back to his senses in time to kick the girl in the gut sending her flying away. He should have grabbed the spear the moment he stood up and kill her, but he didn't. Instead he turned tail and ran. Klein didn't have it in him to kill another.

Ashley stumbled to her feet and panicked when she saw him running. If he got back to the others, then the plan will be ruined. Ashley's face became fierce. She grabbed the spear off the ground and threw it at Klein. She has never used a spear before but got lucky. As the spear made its descent, it stabbed into Klein's right leg. He gave a scream of pain as he fell to the ground clutching the leg. Ashley caught up with him and ripped the spear out while ignoring the screaming it caused. She tossed it to the side and hacked at his leg until it came off. Klein's screams were filled with agony as he looked down at the bleeding stump. He looked at Ashley, desperately begging her to stop. Ashley herself became angry and desperate. The health bar on him was slowly going down, not even at ninety percent. She thought that cutting off a limb would take care of it. She needs to finish him now!

Klein tried to sit up but Ashley walked forward and kicked him in the face knocking him back down and jammed the blade into his stomach. Klein gave another scream of pain and grabbed at the sword to pull it out. His health was still in the green. She snarled and pulled the sword it and stabbed into him again and again and again. It was going too slowly for her tastes.

"Hurry up and die!" she cried desperately as she increased the rate of her attacks. What she didn't know is that the fruit he ate increases the amount of hits the body can take before the HP hits zero, making Klein's death slow and painful. He screamed, begged, cried, and thrashed the whole time, Ashley doing the same minus the crying, which would come later. With one final stab, Klein left both the virtual world and the real one. His body went limp, his eyes became hollow, and blood oozed from his wounds, soaking the grass and Ashley's shoes. The girl continued to stab for 15 minutes after he did before she realized he passed. She sighed in relief. The screaming that she could not stand ceased, and her target was finally dead. She silently stared at the body for two full minutes, at which point the adrenaline in her body vanished and her eyes widened as she finally realized what she had just done. The sword fell from her hand and she fell in the blood on her hands and knees, tears streaming down her face and vomit pouring from her mouth. Once her stomach was empty she collapsed in her own filth and Klein's blood. Her body shook with every sob, she screamed till her throat was raw, the tears burned as they went down her cheeks. Her cries lasted for five minutes, then she spent another five lying there in silence.

"Ashley!" yelled Kirito as he approached from the distant in a sprint. Ashley's eyes widened as she remembers the plan. She quickly and discreetly sends the sword to her inventory so there'll be no evidence, and got on her knees and looked at Kirito. Unlike last time, the emotions running through her as she stared at him were real. Indigo and Aaron told Kirito that Klein and Diabel left hours ago with Ashley to find some food and they are worried. Kirito listened as Ashley explained what happened. She had him in the palm of her hand. (We went to get food, then the bad man killed Klein then tried to kill me. Oh Kirito please help me! Keep the big bad man away from my poor defenseless self, be my Knight in shining armor and do something to make sure Diabel doesn't attack again!) Kirito clenched his fists in anger when he heard her lie. Diabel tried to kill her and succeeded in killing Klein. It's his fault. It's all his fault. If he hadn't abandoned Klein...!

Kirito got on his knees and pulled the sobbing girl into a hug, ignoring how the blood of his friend soaked into his pants. "It's okay. It's over now." he whispered comfortably in her ear. He pulled back and gave her a which peck on the lips. "Wait here. I'll get your friends and come back." he stood up and began running back to the main camp.

"You can't just leave me here. You can't just leave me here!" she screamed at the retreating swordsman. Kirito ignored her, along with the tears streaming down his face.

When she could barely see him, Ashley tapped the air over Klein's body. His inventory window appeared and she began looking through his things. She found out what the fruit did and made sure to take them all for further use. She also took all the clothes and armor he had and an item called Tainted Tusk. He had gotten the Tusk from the boar boss he and Kirito fought on accident. Klein got the last attack bonus do he got the bonus item award, which is the Tusk. It is classified as a creating item and rare drop, but had question marks for all the other stats. Once she got all the good items, she stood up, staring down at Klein's now naked mutilated body. It is covered in the wounds she inflicted, and the eyes were wide open, staring dead at her face. For unknown reasons she was filled with fury at seeing him stare at her.

"Don't look at me!" she shouted. She raised her foot and repeatedly stamped on his head until her foot was covered his brain, and what used to be his head turned to mush. Her anger wasn't quenched though, so she took her sword out again and cut off his arms and the remaining leg. She was satisfied and ran back towards the camp. She will have nightmares for weeks. As she ran back she opened her menu and used the skill points from leveling up, using three increase her strength and the remaining two for speed. She needed to get back to Indigo and Aaron before the murders started.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

When Kirito got back to the camp, he didn't think about what he was about to do. By the time he realized it, it was already too late. He ran a hundred meters into the field before he came across Diabel. The bastard was smiling, acting as if nothing happened! Kirito pulled out his sword and charged at the blunette, and plunged his sword into his chest. Diabel looked down in horror at the blade protruding through his chest, then looked over his shoulder to see a snarling Kirito.

"K-Kirito? W-why?" his HP hit zero. It was only when Diabel's body fell off his sword and hit the floor did he comprehend what he just did. He couldn't dwell on it though, because the crowd was getting angry.

"Did that just happen?"

"He killed him in cold blood!"

"He's a murderer!"

"Let's kill him before he kills is!"

"Yeah!" around twenty people charge at Kirito with their swords drawn. Kirito had to weave through the blades and block with his own, not having the chance to fight back. One guy swung his sword in an arc at Kirito's had. When he ducked, the blade went over him and nearly killed the guy standing behind Kirito. This caused a fight to happen between those two. The same thing happened over and over with others. In less than a minute, fights broke out all over the field. The slaughter had begun.

Kirito was knocked to the ground and was about to be impaled by, when Ashley stepped in and cut off the man's head. She helped Kirito to his feet, and continued defending themselves. Aaron and Indigo arrived seconds later to assist. At that end of the day, Kirito killed twenty, Aaron twenty three, Indigo got thirty, and Ashley got a whopping forty eight. Seconds after the fighting broke out, the green Dome vanished overhead. Ten seconds afterwards everyone noticed and made a break for the trees and out of the field. Kirito, Ashley, Indigo and Aaron stayed together, while miles away Kirito's sister Suguah teamed up with a woman named Asuna. An axman named Agil threw two girls named Silica and Lisbeth over his shoulder and carried them out of the field. A man named PoH lead JohnnyBlack, Red Eyed Xaxa, and around twenty others away. Save for a few hundred who are still fighting, the field became vacant. As Kirito and the others left, a large sign appeared saying Field of Slaughter. Death: 24,846. The number continued to rise.

 **So tell me what you think. I'd say I will update either once a month or every two months. Schools starting soon so it will most likely be the latter, especially with my other fanfiction, which I will spend most of my time on. Thank you for reading and please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Now I know what you're thinking, this chapter is so short compared to the first one. Well I've had an epiphany that by writing shorter chapters is more effective. So I'll be updating six thousand word chapters minimum every two weeks instead of ten thousand words once a month. As due why I haven't updated in the last three months, it's because I totally underestimated senior year. It's so stressful.

My fighting scenes against mobs, in general actually, is a a little bad and not exciting compared to others I've seen.

Enjoy!

Warning, minor sexual scenes.

Thoughts

Skills

Effects

Weapons

Ashley and the gang ran for many hours, non-stop, even to the protest of their virtual muscles. With so many people in this game, they couldn't risk staying close to the center where the Beginning city is located. Logic says that the closer they are to the next difficulty zone, the safer they'll be. So after many hours, the small group finally stopped their run in a forest of pine trees, bent over out of breath. Kirito and Ashley refused to rest though, taking their swords out with their eyes darting back and forth. Meanwhile Indigo and Aaron's adrenaline had finally ran out, and they realized that they had killed someone three hours ago. With that realization, the two went through the same thing Ashley did, falling to their knees puking their guts out and crying. Ashley gave them a sympathetic glance before turning back to their surroundings. She couldn't rest. Not now. This situation is way too dangerous to feel safe. One second can feel peaceful, then the next will be full of attacks by mobs. Peace and safety cannot be afforded.

After several minutes of mental attacks, Aaron and Indigo ceased their crying and vomiting, penning down a crying appointment for before they fall asleep. Dwelling over the deaths they caused can be saved for later. Right now they have business to attend to. Ashley had a great plan in mind. The plan, though, could possibly cause even more mental trauma, but gives them plenty of exp. "Okay guys, I have a plan." Ashley said once they had all caught their breath and calmed down. "I want you to open your menu and check your stats and levels." with a raised brow at how seemingly pointless this action is, the others swiped their menu open. To their surprise, they all leveled up by a few. Ashley was now level six, and three hundred exp from leveling again; Indigo and Aaron were at level five, Indigo 1,200 exp away and Aaron 1,400; and Kirito was at high level four, only a hundred points away from leveling.

How did this happen? They didn't kill nearly enough mobs to get to level two in the short amount of time before entering the field; and the field has no mobs at all for them to kill. It should be impossible to level up. The only killing they did in the field was-, their eyes widened in understanding. Aaron and Kirito weren't happy about it. One person is enough. Having to kill more, especially with little to no experience in murder, is tortuous. Ashley gave a solemn nod.

"Yeah. Killing other players gives us way more exp than killing mobs. Kabaya must've designed it this way as an incentive: the more we kill, the stronger we get." Ashley gave them a minute to process this. Is there any other way? Do they have the ability to kill more people? Ashley and Kirito certainly do. They've done it on purpose. Aaron and Indigo though did it on a whim, in the heat of the moment. Also because of the classic "he would've killed me if I hadn't killed him" reasoning. They don't really want to do it by choice. As the most psychologically knowledgeable person in their group, he knew that he'd be able to get used to it eventually. That doesn't mean he has to like it! Aaron may be a the coldest, emotionally dead person in the whole group, but he is still human. Designed to feel guilty at murder whether it's self defense or not, is able to defend itself on instinct by murder, and responds negatively to Justin Bieber music. Humans can't help it. "We've been running for a few hours. Let's rest for the night and discuss our battle strategy tomorrow."

The others nod. A little sleep ought to do them good. It'll also fill their mind with horrible bloody nightmares, but they'll get there eventually. Baby steps. The four make their beds out of grass, leaves, and branches. Not the most comfortable bed, but they feel the need to get used to it. In this world, sleeping on the floor will most likely be a common thing. Aaron makes a fire, and decides to keep first watch, hoping to postpone the nightmares to come. While they drift off to sleep, Aaron sits on a rock with his sword across his lap. Half an hour into his watch, his mind begins to wander.

He was evil. He believed that on the inside, deep in his soul, he was truly an evil person. There's evidence to support this. He's laughed at devastation, got a kick out of seeing others get the crap beat out of them, and was always the first one in the scene when he heard a gunshot in his neighborhood, which happened quite often with the part of town he lived in. He's only told one person this, his closest friend. Not Ashley, or even Indigo, his own girlfriend; even though they were practically a part of his family, but another friend he lost long ago to a bottle of pills. Javier was his name. This Latino befriended him when no one else would. He is what made Aaron the man he is today, giving him the courage to strike up a conversation with Indigo and meet the friends he has today

Aaron is afraid. He's afraid that his true self will be shown to the girls. It took so long and so much effort for him to befriend those two. The few friends he makes always creates a special bond between them. Losing one of those bonds would be the equivalent to getting kicked in the balls by a horse. Even though Aaron almost always wears a mask, even to his friends, Ashley and Indigo are the ones who are closest to seeing his real face. But even they don't know how barely sane he really is. He knows Indigo is a little on the psycho side, but it pales in comparison to what he's done. Aaron sighed; the mental strain on his psyche to hard to handle. Maybe he should tell them. After all, all he's done was kill twenty three people in a video game, and seventeen others in the real world. Torturing and killing his parents and his five year old sister isn't that bad right? Right?

Sao Sao Sao Sao Sao

Ashley wasn't bothered by all the blood and guts that spilled from her victims after cutting them into pieces with her long sword. That's pretty much the thing she's most comfortable with. The smell is awful, makes her puke and turn green at the thought of smelling something that used to be inside another human's abdomen. Even then, it is quite tolerable. What gets her the most, what sets her off for hours on end are her victims faces. The horror in their eyes when they see the HP on their own health bar hit zero gives her constant nightmares. No, that isn't it. They're more like night terrors, horrible visions and images haunting every waking and nightly moment, as if to say "this is what you did to me!"

One thing leads to another, and five minutes into the nightmare, her victims appear and either begs her to not kill them, or asks her how she could do this to them. These nightmares will occur for the next six months, and on occasion, once, years after. For the former, one of her victims is on their knees, tears streaming down their face, begging and crying. Ashley doesn't want to kill them, and pleads with herself to not go through with it. But, she has no control over her body, and the blade swings, slicing their head off. With the latter nightmare, she is surrounded by her victims covered in blood, even when the death had little to none. They run at her, grabbing and shaking her while screaming things like "How could you do this" and "you vile beast" and her personal favorite, "I had a wife and kids." At one point, her first kill, Klein, comes and says the worst thing she can imagine. He is smiling, covered in blood with his limbs sitting on the floor next to him, and tells her that "it's okay."

This is her first nightmare in this game. It's so intense that she sits up screaming bloody murder, shaking as if she's having a seizure. Her screaming wakes the other two. Once they find the source, they immediately get up to comfort her. Ashley realized where she is, and cries in relief. She pulls Indigo into a deep hug, crying her soul out. Indigo returns the embrace with just a much vigor, whispering comforting words in her ear. Kirito pats her on the back in support, and since Aaron has no experience in things like this, stands back to let the experts do their job. After ten minutes of uninterrupted sobbing, Ashley calms down enough to stop crying but still didn't remove herself from her best friend's arms. Five more minutes and she's able to pull back.

She wipes the tears from her eyes, blushing at her lack of mental strength.

"Thank you."

"It's fine." Indigo replies with a relieved smile. "It's what friends are for right?" Ashley returns the smile, finally coming back to her normal self. It didn't last long though.

"Heads up, we got company!" Aaron shouted from up front. The others heads snapped to his nervous tone, just in time to see thirty tigers at level sixteen slowly approaching. Each Tiger had two health bars, and has a red skull and crossbones next to its cursor, telling them that engaging these creatures is suicidal. They immediately jumped to their feet and pulled out their own blades. "Think we can outrun them?" Aaron asked, hoping that one of the others would say yes to his ultimately pointless hope.

"In the real world we might've," Ashley answered. "But our abilities have been reset to this game's default setting. Real world abilities don't apply here. There aren't any low branches we can use to climb up though, but we're in a forest, giving us a better chance of losing them if we do run. I say we run for it. I'm going to drop all the meat i collected from fighting those wolves. When the Tigers go for it, we run." an approving grunt came from the others. Slowly as to not antagonize the beasts, she opened her inventory and clicked the drop all option, materializing a large pile of meat on the floor in front of her. The four turned on their heels and took off running as the Tigers lunged for the meat. Some of the smaller tigers weren't able to get in on it, so they took off after the humans. Their head start, though, barely gave them thirty feet.

"Some are still after us!" Aaron shouted looking back. "Change directions to a diagonal run. Don't split, stay together." seeing as they have no other options, and even if they did they'd still follow Aaron's plan, and changed to running diagonally. Whatever it takes to stay alive. It took several more direction changes, a dozen jumps over and under fallen trees, and dashing around trees to bring the number of tigers down to one. Still, even one of these tigers were dangerous. It out leveled them by ten at the least.

"Aaron, please tell me you have a plan." Ashley asked desperately, placing her life in the hands of Aaron's fast thinking brain. Kirito's brain was faster, though, not that they were complaining. An expert gamer's strategy is just as good as the most intelligent's one.

"Ashley, you have the highest stats, Indigo, you have a shield so the two of you should Tank it." Kirito commanded. "Aaron and I will observe it to find it its attack patterns and counter them." the strategy was now on the counter, so it happened. Indigo went to the front, Ashley standing behind for cover. The tiger threw its clawed limb at Indigo. Sensing a killing blow, Indigo shoved the shield against the claw. The force knocked Indigo back, crashing into Ashley and knocking them both to the floor. Ashley got to her feet in time to see the tiger swipe at them again. The blonde yanked Indigo to her feet and half pushed half ran with Indigo to safety. The two regained their balance just in time to dodge his next attack.

"For a tiger this thing is powerful." Ashley panted while dodging another attack, sending the tiger Indigo's way. Indigo raised her shield and blocked the claw, which once again knocked her back and onto the floor.

"It's strong to." Indigo added, equally tired and eyeing the massive dents in her shield. "This shield can only take a few more hits. You guys done figuring out its attack patterns yet?!" she forced directed the question at the two boys before crouching under a double claw attack, stabbing her sword in the beast as it flew over her head.

"No, normally they have one powerful attack then goes back to its regular ones." Kirito answered as he watched the tiger circle the two, looking for any give away of a major attack. He got what he wanted when the tiger roared and slammed both claws on the ground. Its cheeks glowed red as a small ball of light appeared in its mouth. His eyes widened in horror when Indigo didn't see the obvious sign of a special attack. "Indigo, get down!" Indigo only managed to send him a confused look before the stream of fire burst from its maw, heading straight for Indigo. She had no time to react, but Aaron did. He ran fast enough to tackle his girl to the ground before the flames hit them. It soared over their heads, the heat making them feel like they were standing next to an active volcano. The tiger made a 360 turn, firing the flames all the while, forcing Ashley and Kirito to the ground as well. The tiger closed its mouth, ceasing its attack.

Getting back to his feet, wiping the sweat from his eyes and retrieving his own fallen sword, Kirito shouted, "There's its attack pattern. Five claw attacks, a double claw attack, and a fire spin attack. Let's go!" the others got to their feet just as Kirito finished his announcement. They grabbed their swords, and as a group, with the new information in mind, engaged the beast in battle once again. It took four repeats of the tiger's attacks for the group to take care of the single tiger. The moment the tiger collapsed to the floor in a puddle of blood, they all collapsed to the floor, panting hard and sweating like crazy. They could only thank the non existent Gods that the fight was over and they got out of it alive. Grateful sighs were heard when the cool night breeze blew by, cooling them. They didn't care if the tiger was upwind from where they lie.

Ten minutes later, Indigo was the only one left awake, the others succumbing to the exhaustion of the fight and not enough sleep; not to mention the previous day caused a lot of mental strain on them all. So she took the next watch. She gets up and decided to harvest a number of items from the Tiger: a pelt, some bones and bone fragments, tiger meat, and something called a Fire Belly. Apparently it gives the person who eats it fire resistance and gives them fire damage. After collecting the drops, Indigo breathed a relieved sigh and took a seat on a fallen tree. This was going to be a long, painful night. In an hour or two she'll have to wake up Kirito or Ashley, but it is still a major pain in the ass. Now that she was alone, she had time to reflect on how much of a disappointment yesterday and this morning was.

Indigo had always dreamed of doing things like this, killing others without consequence and bathing in the blood of her enemies. She's like a soldier in world War two, eager to kill their first Nazis; like Henry Fleming in The red badge of courage, wanting more than anything to dive into battle and be looked upon as a hero. Just like Henry though, she became fearful of battle. When she got her first kills back in the field, it was exhilarating! She's never felt so alive. The girl took pleasure in seeing the life vanish from the eyes of her victims. Hell, the girl even laughed! She's disappointed, though. Not with the fighting, but with herself. She always thought that bullshit Aaron said about killing some was just that, bullshit. The great Indigo would not cry over something as stupid as killing another! But that's exactly what she did. She fell to her knees, guts spewing from her mouth. She cried, she screamed, she vomited, and she felt guilty.

That's the worst part. How could she, the woman who's favorite subject is war, she, who spent ten hours a day for a whole week, studied on the hundreds of ways to torture another human being, she, who has a collection of illegal bdsm and torture videos hidden in her closet, to which she pleasures herself to a blissful, amazing orgasm, headphones playing on full blast; cry, vomit, feel guilty, and have nightmares from doing something as simple as killing someone? It's madness! It makes no sense!

"It has to be some kind of mistake." she thought desperately, fingers scraping agonizingly against the rough wood till it drew blood. She even got a status ailment called wood rot, causing a minor poison effect. "I've spent years mentally preparing myself for this situation, and I break down like a little bitch? That's just fucked! Turns out I'm just like every other human: weak and pathetic! I need to beat this. I need to get past these useless human emotions if I want to survive in this world. Guilt can't exist in me, neither can sadness, fear, and hesitation. That last one will be the death of me. I hesitated the first time I attacked my first kill. If it had been a second later, I'd be one of the bodies in the field. Morals, humane? These words should not exist in me or this world!" a small beeping noise, not loud enough to cause distraction but enough to gain attention, sounded in her left ear. Looking in her top left peripheral, she saw her health bar was in the red. The wood rot increased as she dragged her hand on the old tree trunk, depleting her health greatly. She signed and removed her hand from the wood, examining the cut and scraped palms and fingers.

19 percent health remaining

Amazing how realistic this game was. Blood flowed like it would in the real world. The scrapes looked authentic, even touching them or flexing her fingers cause a sting of pain.

15 percent

The wood too. It was rough to the touch like it would be to the real world. It was so realistic. So is the bronze steel, the liquids of the game, the taste of the food, the feeling of tiredness. Everything.

12 percent

How would it feel for a blade to piece her skin? Would the pain be similar to it? Actually, how did kabaya make it feel so real? Makes one wonder if he experimented on other humans to get these sensations right.

8 percent!

7 percent!

6 percent!

5 percent!

Indigo glared at the world. The beeping noise went from noticeable to downright annoying! Yes, she knows she's dying, now shut the fuck up! Indigo opened her menu and dug into the large fruit, swallowing without chewing. The wood rot canceled and her health began going back up. Finally, some peace and quiet. She ate ten more, putting her health back to a hundred and her hunger up to eighty. Now besides any mobs, she has nothing to worry about. Now back to her train of thought. So, if the pain sensation feels real, does that mean other ones are too?

The lower portion of her clothing was removed, her hand diving desperately for the area between her thighs.

Sao Sao Sao Sao Sao

Kirito didn't know what the smell was, although it does smell pleasant, still he chose to not sit where Indigo did. It's also quite moist. Instead, the swordsman spent his time in watch on a tree branch overlooking their "camp." After running from the Tigers, they arrived at a forest of different trees. The branches were lower, allowing him to climb on it. That way if a mob wanders into the camp he can just jump down and stab it. It'll be so quick that the others won't have to worry about it. Worst case scenario, he wakes them up and they all climb the trees with him.

Like the other two, Kirito explored his mind, looking for the answers to what he should do now. He's seen the other three fight against the mob and other people. He can hear them all having nightmares right now, tossing and turning in their sleeps on the hard floor they lie on. Of course everyone reacted that way, even him. The betrayed look on Diavel's face when Kirito plunged that sword through his body haunted his mind before he was woken by Ashley's screams. Still, they pushed through. After taking the lives of over twenty others per person, and after pouring their hearts out through their mouths and eyes, they went right back to making survival their No.1 priority. Ashley ignored the fact that she just had the worst nightmare she has ever had, and came up with the strategy that helped escape from those tigers. They're strong, and are easily able to take care of themselves.

That makes him feel better when he leaves them.

Kirito does care about them. Even if they just met, he feels like they have a deep level bond. It's not strong enough though. Kirito cares about himself more than others. His survival is put first before his friends and even family. Like Indigo, morale has no place in his heart. It shouldn't have a place in his heart.

Kirito looked down at Ashley's sleeping form. Yeah they kissed, but that was just too shut him up. Besides being pen pals, they should be no connection between them at all. With that logic, there should be nothing to feel guilty over. That bond he spoke of earlier? Fuck the bond! All they did was kill a hundred people together. If anything, he should be disgusted by being near them. He smiled, breathing a loud relieved sigh. His inner conflict finally resolved, the soon to be lone swordsman looked back up, seeing the first rays of the day leek through the tree branches. The day has finally started. With quiet swiftness, Kirito climbed back down. He gave his frie-, acquaintances, one last glance, eyes lingering on Ashley the longest, then took off into the woods, making his friends list empty as he went.

Two hours later, the others woke up to find Kirito has vanished. One look at their friends list told them enough. He had abandoned them.

"God damn it!" Ashley shouted, pounding her first on the earth repeatedly. An angry look adorned her face. Her eyes surprisingly held no betrayal, only frustration and anger. "If he hadn't left, we could've used him!"

"Used him?" Aaron asked with a raised brow, asking out of pure curiosity. He didn't care if Kirito left or not. It's just one less person he might end up killing. "I thought you were in love with him?" the blonde laughed harshly as she got up and looked at the brunette with a "yeah right" look.

"Loved him? Yeah right. I don't love him, I only like him as a friend. But I was going to use love as a means for him to stay."

"What do you mean?"

"Love is a very powerful weapon. Especially when the one who loves you used to be the most powerful player in the game." now they began to understand. The two had an impressed look on their face, and Indigo had a "I'm so fucking proud of you" smirk on her face.

Just to clarify, she asked, "So you wanted him to fall in love with you. Since he can become a very powerful player, he'd be protecting you constantly from any and all threats. Actually, he'd probably do whatever you ask."

Ashley smiled. "Yep, my own personal pawn. He'll belong to me as long as I tell him I love him. It's too bad he's gone now."

"Can't you just do that with any other person?" asked Aaron, referring to the five million other male players.

"I could but it wouldn't be as effective. Kirito is the most powerful so having him would be the best strategy. I could use an above average player to help me, but another above average player could beat him too. The only way I could make it work would be to have a harem with around a hundred people. Even if it does sound fun, it'd be a hassle to control them all." Ashley spent several seconds thinking of new ways to use someone, but could not find one. Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts she announced, "Enough about sex, let's get down to business. Our main priority is to become the most powerful people in this world via killing other players. Put out your ideas."

"I've got one." Aaron answered. "There's bound to be a few large camps filled with people. Humans naturally gather in groups in times of great distress. With our equipment, it wouldn't take long to kill everyone there."

"Nah, too risky." Indigo disagreed with a shake of her head. "What if we underestimate their strength? There are bound to be a few who joined just to grind and have gotten strong enough to take us on. No, the best thing to do would use the damsel in distress technique."

"Damsel in distress?"

"Yeah, first we find and kill a guy. Then Ashley or I will play the girl in distress. We'll act like we're crying and sad over killing someone. Then when they try to help or comfort us, we go in for the kill. We'll take turns killing the person so we can get an equal amount of EXP." Indigo finished with a bow. Her two friends gave her a satisfied smile. It was perfect! Using one of the most basic human instincts as bait to get what they want. "Hold on, look at this map." the girl projected the map onto the forest floor as they crouched to get a better look. "This is the town of beginnings." she pointed to a small clump of buildings in the center of the map. Coming from the town were four white lines going in the directions north, south, east, and west. "According to the legend, these lines represents paths to the town. Since it's the main town, thousands will be coming and going to this place. We just need to camp somewhere along this path and do our thing there."

"Alright then, you have the map so let's do this." with a smile, Indigo took off in the southern direction. They were far north on the map, right at the edge of the first difficulty level, and it took a good portion of the day to find the path, and it took even longer to find an appropriate spot to settle down. When they did, they settled in the trees, waiting for someone to pass by. A man, roughly thirty years old, came by after waiting for ten minutes. Ashley leaped out of the trees and pierced his heart with her sword. He could only mutter a "why?" before his hp hit zero and died. She was then chosen as the damsel because, that moment, she went into another guilt stricken mental attack. They manipulated her hand to open the menu and remove her outer clothing, leaving her in her undergarments. They told her rape will make for a better story. A minute later a girl came by.

Sao Sao Sao Sao Sao Sao

Shino, a young girl who just recently killed a man in real life. She suffered from PTSD. Ever since she killed that man, she went into a panic attack wherever she saw a gun, even if it is on pictures and TV. Reminders of her grave sin are all around her. The brunette couldn't stand it anymore. She had to get away. So she bought this game, Sword art online. In a fantasy game, firearms don't exist. No reminders, no loud popping noise, no more attacks. Nothing but the sound of blade against blade. Being stuck in this world was probably the best thing that has happened to her. She walked the path to the Town of Beginnings with a smile on her face, chin held high, and a small skip in her step.

Then she saw her. A blonde girl, on her hands and knees, crying and vomiting her guts out. She kneeled in a pool of blood made by the corpse in front of her. She heard the anguish in her voice, knowing the familiar tone coming from her cries. Shino stopped feet from the girl, doing nothing but stare down at her pathetic form.

"It wasn't my fault." Ashley sobbed out quietly. She slowly lifted her head to look at the girl who approached her, looking her directly in the eyes, hiding the surprise when she didn't look away. This girl has been through the same thing she has. It's too bad she had to die though. She's sure they would've been great friends. "He tried to force himself on me. I had no choice. He came at me. I-I reacted on instinct. N-now he's d-dead." Shino couldn't take it anymore, and knelt down, wrapping her arms around the blonde.

"Shh, it's alright." she whispered softly. "You had no choice, no one'll blame you. It'll be okay."

"No it won't." Shino's eyes widened. "I'm sorry." she whispered before Indigo blade dug into the brunette's side, coming out the other end. She twisted the blade, and yanked it to the right, cutting Shino in half. Her dead body fell to the floor beside Ashley, who remained still. Aaron dragged the two body parts away while Indigo took a seat next to her best friend in the puddle of blood, wrapping her arms around her.

"You did good." Indigo said softly. The two spent the next twenty minutes in each other's arms, taking comfort as they cried their souls out.

Aaron, meanwhile, was having those psychotic urges again after dragging the body deep in the woods. Yes she was cut in half, yes she was dead and covered in blood, yes it is sick and wrong. But Shino was just so fucking hot. He removed all articles of clothing from her body and proceeded to fuck every part of her body that can be fucked. Besides the nostrils, every hole was violated by his dick. Yep, good times. Reminds him of his mom and sister. Before and after he killed them.

For the next two months, they went through this routine. Ashley stripped naked or half naked and sat next to a dead male, crying her eyes out. She got used to it after a while and had to fake her tears. She actually began having fun doing it, as did Indigo and Aaron. Aaron's old tale of worrying about killing when they began to enjoy it was long forgotten. Kirito was forgotten, the death game was forgotten, friends and family were forgotten. Everything was perfect.

Sao Sao Sao Sao Sao

In the two months, the three managed to get to level 19, effectively becoming some of the strongest players in the game. There were only a few who even came close to their level. Then there was that one whose level was double theirs. A story for another time.

After so long, the durability on their weapons was nearing low. Indigo broke her shield when a huge man with a hammer decided to fight back. The fight was won, but not before the shield broke. Now that they were low, they had to do something drastic. In order to continue getting stronger, they had to head back to the town of beginning to get re-equipped. So, with a heavy heart, they made the long journey to the town. It wasn't long because it was far away, it was long because they were all deep in thought on how others would think of them. They haven't interacted with society in so long, that they don't know what is normal. They'll just have to wait and see.

An hour in, as they were to busy studying the map to see how long it is supposed to take to get there (three hours) they heard a voice.

"Stop right there!" a rough male voice yelled. The three looked up startled. Even more shocking was the amount of weapons aimed at them. Atop a tall wooden wall are dozens of archers, wooden arrows with iron tips nocked on the bows string. It must've taken weeks to make them. Two feet thick, ten meters high, and in a relatively good condition. The wood was dark in color, not black but more of a deep brown. Possibly mahogany. Ashley stared at the walls till the durability appears. The armor she has on has a durability of two thousand at its best, now only at three hundred. The wall, though, had a durability of twenty thousand out of twenty five! As her eyes wandered over the wall, she saw dozens of arrows imbedded deep in the wood, and many slash marks from what could only be from a sword. Bandits maybe?

On the floor at the base of the wall are a dozen men in steel armor, spears lowered to aim at them. Ashley looked at their stats, and saw that they were all a little less than theirs. To many strong players. "I will ask you a series of questions before I let you in." the voice with no source said again. Seeing as they have no choice, they complied. "State your names." they gave their names. "I see that your cursor is red, care to explain why?"

"It was back in the field of slaughter." Ashley answered. "We had no choice in the heat of the moment."

"How many have you killed." that's a question they literally could not answer. So deciding to answer honestly, all they say in unison is, "We don't know." there was a moment of silence before the small gate attached to the wall opened a crack. A young man stepped out. He is short, around Aaron's height. Has blonde hair in a bowl cut, and brown eyes. He wore full body silver iron and had a lance in his left hand. "Anymore of you out there?" Ashley shook her head.

"No, just us."

"You're levels are pretty high. Around our elite players. How'd you get so strong?"

"He's smart." Aaron thought. "He came out here to see our faces when we answer. It's hard to fake not killing others to level. I'll have to wing it." aloud he replied, "We were part of a small settlement near the end of the first zone. Together we teamed up to rank up. Being near the border helped us level quickly."

The man nodded. Understandable. There were some loose ends though. "What happened to the others? Did you leave the group, and why?"

Knowing they'll go investigate another settlement, he answered, "We got attacked by a large group of Red players." his answer have the interrogator a dark, serious look.

"Laughing Coffin huh?" he muttered under his breath. Aaron heard it though.

"Laughing coffin? Sounds dark. Must be a group of murderers. If I was a murderer, which I am, what would I wear? Black."

"They wore black clothing." the armed men visibly stiffened.

"Did they wear cloaks?" Aaron nodded. Whispered conversations broke out among the spearmen and the archers.

"They fought Laughing Coffin?"

"How'd they survive?"

"Must've been luck?"

"PoH must be looking for them?"

"Can we trust them."

"Enough!" the man yelled over his shoulder, silencing the mini army. Turning his head back to the three, he asked, "Did you really survive Laughing Coffin?" they nodded, forcing a stressed out of him. "Okay, I believe you. My name is Adolf Hitler." they blinked. "My parents were racist. I prefer to be called Adolter. "Welcome to the Town of Beginnings!" really? Ha! The three began laughing. The town is another three hours away! They stopped laughing when they realized he was serious.

"You're joking right?" Indigo said. "We're not supposed to hit the town for another three hours. That's twenty miles away!"

"Yeah, we kind of expanded." Adolter replied with an amused smile.

"B-By twenty miles?!" Ashley said in disbelief, wondering what lay beyond those walls. Adolter saw her eyes and smiled even brighter.

"Do you wanna see." she could do nothing but nod. Adolter yelled to open the gates. With a groan, the gates opened to reveal what lay beyond.

Should the rating be charged to M? Tell me what you think. Ciao.


	4. Chapter 4

**The reason the ending to the last chapter sucked is because I fell into that depression at that point. I was near the end so I just decided to end it like that to get it out of the way. That maybe I can delay writing by posting the next chapter. I rewrote the ending so by now it should be changed so it's better. To those who are wondering, I've come to the realization that the one who left is happier now. She was trapped here, not allowed to follow her dreams. So after a small chat with her, I decided that I should be happy for her being happy. She's better off where she is. So I watched a few movies, hanged out with friends I haven't seen since she left, and I found myself again. I'm back to my smart-ass, annoying, emotional self. Socram, Saidre, Silentdemise79, thanks for your support.**

 **Now onto the story. I tried writing in first person, I've done it in the past, but just can't do it. I've spent so long writing in third person that I got used to it. So it'll remain in third person unless necessary. To help with a, hopefully, writing career though I'll include moments in this story.**

The doors opened, and the sight nearly made Ashley cry. She was beautiful. The gang hasn't seen her in what feels like years, but the beauty still remains. They've almost forgotten her. Her. Civilization. Standing atop the hill overlooking the town, their eyes took in the hundreds of buildings in a perfect urban outfit. As far as their eyes could see are buildings that they haven't seen in quite a while. The outer buildings are made of ugly stone and concrete, turning into nice birch wood buildings further in. They saw people, walking and talking about, as if they weren't trapped in a death game. People had businesses, trading equipment and food. Many practiced their swords skills, using practice dummies and captured mobs. The farmlands caught their interest the most. Fields have been turned into plowed lands, used for growing potatoes, wheat, and corn. Farm animals like chickens and cows ate grass and hay in the grasslands to the east. The beautiful stone castle in the middle of the town casted a nice cool shadow on the surrounding buildings.

That wasn't the big thing though. What really caught their attention, what made their hearts soar with delight, was the people of the town, their faces in particular. Laughter emitted from the people's mouths, which were turned up into bright smiles. Their eyes aren't dull and dead like the ones they fought along the path and in the Field of Slaughter. No, these ones were alive. They shined brightly, were full of life and lacked worry. Therein lies the problem. Aaron was the first to notice it. It's too safe here. The people of this town are acting as if they won't be killed in the next few hours. Not that they are, but it is the best idea to always be on guard. Death can come from anywhere. He and the others knew that if they were to be attacked by another group, even if they were smaller, this town would fall. Indigo, though, smiled brightly. Already forming a plan on how they can use this to their advantage.

"I'll give you a quick tour then take you to our leader's place." Adolter said, gaining Ashley's interest.

As they began walking in the direction of the castle, she asked, "So you have a leader huh?" intent on getting a much info as possible. The more she knows the better off she'll be.

"Yep, he's a great man." he spoke as if he was so proud, eyes becoming dazed as he fell into memories of the past month. "Everyone here was about to go to full scale war. Then he showed up and calmed us down."

"He basically yelled shut the fuck up." one of the guards said with a laugh, making the others do the same.

"Anyway," Adolter continued when the laughter ceased. "He came to our rescue, established order in this place and basically built this town from the ashes. Enough about him, let me give you a tour." the tour continued, he and the guards pointing out important stores and areas. Ashley initiated her part in the plan, asking frequent questions and looking interested in whatever he was saying. The three had decided on a plan as they were on their way to the town. Ashley would play the curious girl that wants to know everything, and Indigo and Aaron play the couple who are only interested in each other, whispering lovey dovey comments. Actually, Aaron was in charge of memorizing every detail of the town and her people, while Indigo is supposed to be looking for anything they can exploit. Her eyes were currently locked on a dark series of alleys they just passed, and took note of the lack of people. The perfect ambush spot. As Aaron looked about, he noticed several intriguing things. The most intriguing one was the occasional dirty, minimal dressed person.

Every ten steps, he counted at least four individuals who had a second layer of skin made of dirt, and no matter the sex, had a minimal amount of clothing, shoes nonexistent for them all. He also noticed that all of them has an iron bracelet on their ankle, and were treated badly by those around them: pushed around, called worthless, and yelled at constantly. He recognized the bracelet as the device that transports someone to a desired location if they get too far away from a certain area. In this case it would send these people to the dungeon below the castle. Focusing all his attention on these people, he began to see a surprising pattern. First off, each one, and sometimes more than one, of these people was accompanied by a clean, good looking person. The other thing is that these individuals levels are in the single digits. Not seven and eight, but ones and twos.

He had his theories, which was confirmed seconds later. On a poorly made wooden stage, a high leveled rich looking man stood tall and loud. On the floor of the stage, however, were six of these dirty people, cuffed and chained. The man standing was announcing something about prices. His theory was right, and it took all his willpower to not smile or laugh.

Instead, he said in a loud voice so the others could hear him, "Slaves." everyone in the group looked over their shoulder at him, the natives surprised he figured it out so quickly, while Ashley and Indigo looked around to confirm what he said.

Adolter shook of his shock before replying, "Yes, we allow slavery in this town, along with every other major settlement in the area. That's not going to be a problem is it?" he added, fingers reaching for the handle to his blade. Ashley and Aaron said they don't care as long as there's a good reason, and Indigo was already thinking of all the fun she could have with slaves. She still hadn't put that Fire Belly she got from the tiger to use yet. If it makes the consumer have resistance to fire for three days, then that's three days worth of Pyro torture. They had a dozen more of them once they got to a good enough level to take them out on their own.

"So what is the reason you have slaves?" Ashley asked. "Is it the classic superiority complex reason?" she thought of how the whites thought they were superior to African Americans because of religion.

"You're on the right track, but no cigar. While we are superior to them because of our levels, we don't patronize them for it. We don't have a problem with people with lower levels. We _do_ have a problem with people who don't do anything about it." his tone turned emotional and even inspiring. "The people choose not to fight for the right to live, making them a burden for those who do. They're just expecting us to protect them and save them from dangers. There can't be civilians. In order to survive you have to either be a fighter, and for us higher players, a warrior and soldier. There can't be anything in between. People who don't fight for their lives have no right to have it. They have no right to have free will. The town decided that it would be too messy to kill them all in a mass execution, so we decided on a more beneficial path."

"You turned them into slaves." Ashley asked getting an affirmative mod.

"Yep. We gathered them all, killed a hundred of them while the others watched. They knew we were serious and would rather give up their free will than die. We put an anklet on them that sends them to a specified location, I'll give you the blueprints to make one later, and forced them to our bidding. It is actually very profitable and let's us level faster." he finished with a relaxed exhale, looking towards the sky.

"There must've been some who didn't go down lightly though." Ashley stated, not asked. The human mind is a stubborn entity after all.

Adolter nodded his head saying, "There were some, but they were quickly taken care of. You ever hear of an item called a Firebelly?" Indigo licked her lips, liking where this was heading. None answered so he took it as a no. "It's a rare drop from the Tigers that live in the area. It gives fire resistance to those who eat it. We fed some to them and tortured them with fire till they gave us their free will." Indigo came. Hard. Clasping his hands together he said, "So, your thoughts?" they didn't think about it long.

"I'm okay with it." Ashley answered. "You have a good reason for making slaves so you're easily justified. As long as it is for the cause of beating this game, I have no problems." Indigo agreed, hiding her actual feelings of wanting to get a slave right away and torture em. Aaron doesn't really care about it. If it doesn't affect his leveling then it does not matter. The slaves, though, could be a good way of leveling, so the option of buying slaves is on the table.

Adolter sighed in relief. He was afraid he was going to have to kill these guys. In public no less. In fact, he had already come up with a speech to give to those watching about why he killed then. Phew. Glad that was avoided. He gave them a thank your before continuing the tour. When they arrived in the rich part of the town, made of wooden buildings, he told them this will be the place to shop for anything on their skill level, pointing to a shop in their right. The store was made of wood, had a brick chimney coming from the right side when facing it, dark smoke pouring out. A wooden sign hanging by a chain read "Lisbeth: equipment and trade." Adolter and the guards allowed them to enter the store and purchase the new equipment they wanted in the first place.

With a smile and thanks, the three entered the shop, and was met with a blast of hot air accompanied by a metallic smell. A large furnace the size of a fridge sits in the back of the shop, accompanied by the pounding of hammer on steel and grunts of effort. As the three looked around the shop, they found shelves holding weapons of all kinds: long swords, short swords, battle axes, hammers, and bows. There was also various armors and shields.

"I'll be right with you in a minute!" a female voice called from the back. As they waited, they took a few moments to find a weapon that caught their interests. Aaron gazed at a beautifully crafted iron long sword, with a black handle with golden stripes every half inch; the blade was colored a nice faded blue, blade curving at the end. A cliché paper price tag was attached to the hilt of the sword. The amount of zeros on the tag made his eyes widen comically. He quickly opened his menu, muttering a god dammit when he saw he didn't have enough.

Meanwhile, Indigo was checking out a shield and sword set. Besides their stats, there was nothing really special about them. The sword was a simple dull gray with a red handle and guard slightly curved upwards. The handle had indents every inch as a place for the fingers to rest on, allowing the user a good grip. The lbrown leather vest looked as simple as your everyday sweater vest, minus the nerdy look, and the silver breastplate looked nothing special. The small shield has a gray and blue spiral on originating from the golden red star in the middle. The stats told a different story, however. Her equipment paled in comparison to the 5,000 damage and 100,000 durability that the ones on the shelf had. The tiger they fought the month earlier wouldn't stand a chance against these babies!

The piercing whistle from Ashley caught their attention, turning around to see her staring wide eyed at a wooden long bow. Range of 250 meters, 4,000 shots available, seventy percent accuracy, and one hundred percent mass murder. The perfect weapon for someone like her to use. Plans already formed in her head on how she can use it. It involves a high tree, a few hundred arrows, and unsuspecting players walking on the path.

"Sorry about that. I was working on a special order." Said the blacksmith as site came from the back room while wiping the sweat off her brow. The gang room one look at her, and was severely unimpressed. She is a young brunette around their age, wearing a very questionable frilly pink dress and white apron. Although her stats are high from almost constant hammering, the bright, innocent look in her eyes told them that she has yet to have her first human kill. That and the green cursor floating over her head. The blacksmith known at Lisbeth saw the unimpressed look on their faces, once again sighing for the thousandth time since she opened shop. Before they could utter a word, Lisbeth walked over to the shelf and picked up the blade Aaron was admiring earlier. To their surprise, she lifted the sword with ease.

More surprising was what she did with it, swinging the sword in a serious of complex moves. Swing. Swing. Parry. Thrust. Uppercut swing. Downward slash. Spin slash. Dodge. Dodge. Ending with a thrust, leaving the threes mouths open in shock. She moved with such speed that even Kirito would have a hard time keeping track of those moves.

"Yeah, I don't look like much but I can hold my own in a fight." Lisbeth chuckled smugly while placing the sword back on the shelf. "I don't use sword skills and instead practice freehand Kenjutsu. It's not as strong but it sure is faster." With the sword on the shelf she swiftly turned around, dress ruffling with a whoosh. "So, what can do for you? You're new I assume."

"How'd you know that?" Ashley asked with narrowed eyes.

Ignoring her glare, Lisbeth responded, "Everyone in this town had entered my shop at least once while here. My photographic memory allows me to remember everyone. So, what do you need?"

"We just need or equipment repaired. Ours is worn out." Aaron said, sadness lacing hours voice at not being able to get the sword. He opened his menu to show her for state of this is sword.

"Damn, you guys must've done some hardcore grinding to get it to this stage." She turned to the other two and said, "If your weapons are anywhere near his, then it is impossible to repair. I could give you some new things though. It won't feel the same since you've been using this weapon for so long, but it has better stats." they know of the emotional attachments humans grow to their weapons, but still immediately responded with a yes. Such emotions only get in the way of survival. Although they didn't have enough Col to pay for their equipment individually, they were able to pour all their funds together to pay for all their equipment. Aaron was able to get his sword and got some new armor: a thin leather vest with chainmail over it, steel gauntlets with steel sleeves covering the rest of the arms. It was official. Aaron is in love with this sword and this game.

Indigo bought her sword and shield and breastplate, and if the situation arises, bought the ability to Forge weapons, at a beginning level of course. Maybe the skill will come in handy one day. Wouldn't it be nice to be a master blacksmith someday. It wouldn't happen though. Her love of killing others isn't just a hobby, but it is also a hobby. There are few things you can do in this game as a hobby, or for entertainment. You can blacksmith, cook, grow crops, fuck, and fight monsters or other players. Cooking can be fun for anyone and it would be an interesting thing to learn to smith. A good fucking now and then is fun too. But with leveling up and killing as a hobby, there is literally nothing she can do that catches her interests. Ugh, guess fucking and murder will have to do.

Lastly, Ashley bought a regular old long sword. Only this one was jagged at the sides, like the teeth of a shark. The hilt had dips in the grip for better handling, and a sharp triangle shaped pommel reflected beautifully in the candle light. If this was a person she'd ride it like a maniac. It's the kind of sword that weapon enthusiasts would call blasphemy for actually using it. The sword should be in a glass case in some stuffy museum for the next hundred years. Next was the longbow she had been eyeing.

What was there to say about it? It was a beautiful weapon that she'd been wanting all along? That she'd get so many kills using this thing? Very few words could be used to describe how she feels when holding the bow. It just felt right in her grip, feeling the muscles strain under the 110 pound draw weight felt orgasmic. Running her fingers on the shaft of the feathered arrows gave her the urgent desire to nock the arrow and fire right then and there. So that's what she did. Before even paying for it, she nocked an arrow, turning on her heels to the open window and shooting a squirrel perched on the opposite building. She was hit with a wave of euphoria when she saw the squirrel so strong, that her legs gave out and she fell but was caught by Aaron. She had orgasmed. Luckily Lisbeth mistook it for the recoil being too strong.

Ashley calmed herself, and ignoring the curious looks from her friends and those looking through the window, turned to the smith and practically shoved the golden currency her hands, wanting to get her bow and thousand arrows as fast as possible. When she bought the arrows, she put them into her inventory, and put the arrow quiver onto her back. The moment she did, twenty arrows spawned into the quiver. Once she fires all the arrows it's holding, there will be a thirty second rest period before the quiver refills.

Lastly she asked Lisbeth to custom make her some armor using rare materials she got off of some of their victims. She asked for the armor to be flexible yet durable. Her strength levels would allow her to carry the armor with ease. Lisbeth says she'll be done with it in a week. Ashley gave her half the pay to ensure it'll be made, slung the bow over her right shoulder and with a thank you, left the shop, he friends in tow.

When they exited the store, they were met with everyone on the street having their swords drawn, aimed in their direction. Adolter looked them over, and once he saw the bow, sighed in relief, telling everyone to stand down and go back to they're business. Ashley raised an amused brow at their caution, finding it cute and funny to see them so on edge.

"What was that about?" she asked with a chuckle, placing her right hand in her hip and pushing it outward to look like a badass. It worked as she saw several of the guards cross their legs uncomfortably. Sex appeal huh? Maybe she could use that to her advantage. When she paid for the first half of her armor, she sold the leather jacket, vest, and chainmail too. Leaving her in a black lacy camisole, and olive green tights. She's basically every guys wet dream.

"We saw the arrow fly. It scared the crap out of everyone here." Adolter explained, his amused demeanor hiding the fact that he wants to fuck Ashley's lights out. "And when we looked through the window and saw you on the floor we thought of the worst case scenario. Turns out though, you couldn't wait and fired the bow."

Ashley blushed and turned her head away, muttering an adorable "shut up" that had everyone laughing at her expense. They calmed themselves and continued towards the castle, Ashley all the while flirting with Adolter. Although he's no Kirito, the seduction or love tool is still useful.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

It's been a month since he left Ashley, and two weeks since he's seen another human. Yes, he said humans, not players or even people, but as humans. Ever since an incident the day he left his not girlfriend and her friends, Kirito has chosen to put others into only two categories: humans, and monsters. Two days after he left, Kirito recalled the definition of people. It could be humans in general in a large amount, or people of the nation or community.

On the day he left, Kirito was attacked by a man. This man had a strange aura surrounding him. The moment he caught sight of him, he knew he was dangerous. He had no armor on, not even shoes, and had his blade still sheathed on his hip while Kirito had his out and was in his battle stance. What scared him most was the smirk on the right side of his face. To call it a smug smile wouldn't give it justice. There were a number of things that could be used to describe that smile. Smug, confident, eager, amused, yeah right, this'll be fun. This man had deep brown hair, and a low cheek boned handsome face that brought out his hazel eyes. He wore a simple white shirt and black pants.

Kirito yelled repeatedly for the man to stop, even pulling his sword out when he didn't. The man only continued walking towards the swordsman, the same smug look on his face. He got to close and Kirito was forced to attack him. Then something shocking happened.

 **Flashback**

" _I'm warning you, stay back!" Kirito yelled, swinging his sword as a warning to the man, who was only a few feet away now. He didn't stop. Kirito saw no other option, now considering the man a full fledged threat to his survival. Kirito ran forward, swinging his blade in a downward Vertical Slash. Then something happened. A green barrier appeared inches between him and Kirito's blade._

" _Wh-what?" Kirito asked in mixed shock and awe, causing the man to chuckle in amusement at his wide eyed look. "Is, is this magic?" so there is magic in this game after all huh? The only question is how the guy got it. It's only been five days since the game started! When did he have time to find magic in this game? In most mmorpg, magic is gained from finding a magical amulet, leveling to get magic, and finding an NPC that'll give the player the ability to use it._

 _Kirito took a glance at his level. Twelve. Most likely far higher than anyone else has. He must have gotten magic on the first day they were allowed to leave if he got to such a high level so quickly. Kirito then took a look at the cursor. It wasn't green, red, or yellow. It was black. Pure, dark black._

" _Who-, who are you?" Kirito asked, feeling fear enter him for the first time in years. If he was a betting man, he'd assume that his cursor was black from killing a good number of people, or from being the highest level. Considering what black normally means, he'd have to go with the former. This man has more blood on his hands then Kirito would be able to get after months of killing. He could actually be killed right here and now. His question made the man go from a chuckle to a sadistic, maniacal laugh. The power behind his voice sent shivers up the swordsman's spine. Was this the laugh… of a mad man?_

" _You'll learn in due time. Kirito." His heart skipped a beat, names being the most powerful weapon when it comes to magic. A black magic spell could cause instant curses, even death._

" _How do you know my name?!" his fear was replaced by anger. Anger caused by one simple fact: he couldn't kill this man._

" _We were both in the Beta. Don't you remember me?" he didn't. To his credit, he did spend the next twenty seconds searching his memory box for this face. Even as a solo player, he met and worked with so many people during the beta. Mostly in the boss fights, so he had plenty of opportunity to interact with others, to his discontent of course. He must've been one of the high level players though, which he was around quite often. Kirito itched his brain, searching for the face before him, but couldn't find it._

 _This only brought out more amusement from the man. "So you don't. What a shame. I would've loved to see your shocked face right before I kill you. Sigh. I guess I'll have to spare you until you remember me." He smiled. "That doesn't mean I can't have fun with you though." In his thick English accent, he uttered a spell. What sounds like mumble jumble to Kirito, is drawing mana to cast spells. Each syllable was soft and echoed, like something you'd hear from a Harry Potter movie. The spell only took two seconds to be said. The man stopped talking, and suddenly Kirito was flying through the air at incomprehensible speeds. He was airborne for only a second before he hit a tree, causing pain to shoot up his back_

 _Kirito fell to the forest floor in pain. He got on his hands and knees, crawling towards the fallen sword. Before he could grab it, another spell was uttered, causing the swords handle to hit him hard in the gut and sent him flying back a few feet. He fell again, clutching his abdomen in pain as he forgot of the battle he was supposed to be having. There's only so much pain a person can handle. The pain got far worse as a loud, unbearable screeching noise assaulted his ears. He clawed at the organ, desperately to make it stop, screaming his throat raw at the pain. He understood that this was the same spell Kayaba used in the beginning of the game to calm the millions of players down._

 _The screeching stopped, and Kirito was once again flying through the air. Only this time he didn't hit a tree, but a group of ten players. He crashed into the leader and both toppled to the floor. The leader, a curvy black girl with braided hair, quickly got off the floor, pulling out her sword and aiming at Kirito._

" _Who the hell are you? Why did you attack me?" she demand in an angry voice with an obvious touch of fear in her voice. He was the first person they'd seen since the slaughter field, and were still weary of anyone._

" _Oh look at that, more play toys." The magic man announced as he slowly walked towards the group, causing everyone to take their weapons out._

" _Run the fuck away." Kirito managed to say before coughing out blood in a fit._

 _She only scoffed amusingly. "It's ten on one. There's no way he can beat us."_

" _Would you be willing to test that theory on your life?" the man said as he stopped in place. "Why don't to go ahead and test it out?"_

" _Don't do it! Please don't do it!" Kirito yelled desperately. "He'll kill all of you. He's casting!"_

" _Casting what? Arrows?"_

" _No, spells. He can use magic!"_

" _Isn't that the truth." Another spell was said, followed by a stone spear coming from the ground and piercing the chest of one of their members. The spear went back under ground, letting his body fall to the floor, dead. The girl screamed, dropped her stone sword to the floor and kneeled by the fallen lover._

" _Rob. No." she cried, tears spilling from her eyes. She grew angry, picked up her sword and pointed it at the man. "Kill the fucker!" the others followed her order and charged at the man with a battle cry. The scene could only be described as a slaughter. Those guys didn't stand a chance. Dismembered. Disemboweled. Tortured. Dead. All that was left was Kirito and the girl._

 _Kirito finally got his strength back though. He stood up and walked over to Rob, unsheathing the stone sword. With a scream, Kirito charged the man and relentlessly attacked him. He moved faster than he ever did before, in games and real life. His sword was only a blur as it moved through the air. To bad every time he swung, a barrier appeared. He didn't give up though. He pressed on, changing his tactics with every ten swings. Kirito fought with only one goal in mind: to kill this man. He was a monster, undeserving of living. The man had to die. He vanished and reappeared behind the man, on the side, in the air; but every time it only met the barrier._

 _Suddenly the blade was ripped from his hand by a gust of wind. Disarmed, the man steps forward and delivers a powerful punch to Kirito's gut. Apparently magic isn't the only thing this man is proficient in. He flew back and landed on the floor feet away from the now terrified girl. The man walked forward till he stood in front of the girl, who by now had dropped her sword in fear and fell to her knees. She knew she was going to die._

" _You know." The man said. "I hate niggers." Gasp. "I've found them stupid and disgusting. But, I think I can make an exception." He said while looking at her attractive body, having the curves in all the right places. The girl pissed herself, a dark stain appearing on her trousers. "Tsk. Where are your manners. I'm going to have to teach you a lesson." He said with a sadistic smile on his face. Kirito was pinned to a tree by swords going through his body and exiting on the other side of the tree. He was kept alive by a healing spell every so often._

 _He was forced to watch the man torture and rape the poor girl, forced to hear her unbearable screams enhanced by a sound spell. At first he screamed in rage, saying to stop or he'll kill him. After a while though, he broke down and began crying, begging him to stop._

 _A good half hour later and the female nigger lie naked on the forest floor, covered in blood, bruises, and insides filled with semen._ _ **(1)**_

" _Please. Please just kill me." the girl begged in only a whisper. "I can't take it anymore. Just kill me already." The man went deep into thought, actually considering the thought. Eventually, after many minutes of mental torture, agreed._

" _I suppose I'll grant you this request. You have given me much pleasure, so it's the least I could do." The girl actually smiled, saying thank you over and over again. He took the sword out of his sheath, made not of bronze or iron, but of steel. Despite everything he's just seen, Kirito stared at the beautifully made sword in awe. A steel sword? Is this guy hacking? There's no way he could've gotten it in such short time. "To quote my favorite serial killer: just go to sleep." He swung the sword and beheaded her. Her head rolled to a stop under the tree Kirito hung from. The man pulled the blade out, allowing him to fall to the floor clutching the nasty gash in his stomach. The man healed him with a spell, turning around to leave. "It's been fun, but I'm afraid I must leave now. I'll be seeing you Kirito. I expect great things from you."_

" _Wait!" Kirito called out, but he vanished in a teleportation spell._

 **End flashback**

After that day, Kirito realized that there was a difference between humans and monsters. In this scenario, humans would be those who kill others and mobs for the sake of others, or themselves. Survival via murder is a natural instinct after all, so he can't call it evil. Monsters would be considered those who kill just for sport, for the fun of it. Kirito knew that eventually he'd become one of the latter, once again knowing the psychology of humans and how he'd adapt to this new world.

It's been two weeks since he's seen another human. It's been compete torture and loneliness since then. At least in the beta he was able to interact with the NPCs, but with the large lacking of any, he'd been forced to wander the forest, killing as many mobs as he could to level up. He's tired of it. A solo player can only handle so much before they begins to go insane. Recently he began to have dreams. These dreams involved his life back in the real world, and nightmares about what could happen to Ashley and the gang after he left. Bad things. One of the most vivid ones was that magic man arriving and killing them all, but not before he rapes Indigo and Ashley right in front of him. These got so bad that he forced himself not to sleep.

It's been four days since he's gotten any sleep. Not just because of the nightmares, but because he's entered a zone in the map where a lot of mobs spawn for some strange reason. He's been on alert for a long time, even turning it into paranoia. So when he heard a noise just now, he pulled his sword out without a second thought. It was a slurping noise with what sounded like a low groaning. It most be another one of those lizard warriors he found. They're a half mob, half NPC living in their own underground colony. It's the first mob he's seen that stands on two legs and uses a sword. It's a tough mob.

Kirito took a few so breathes before charging through the bushes. Awkward moment in three, two, one. He exited the brush.

Sitting on a fallen tree was his little sister, Suguha, and a girl with Chestnut colored, almost orange hair, French kissing. **(2)**

…

"What the fuck?!" he yelled in absolute shock. His sudden outburst shocked the couple out of their make out session. Suguha looked at the familiar voice, laughing and crying in joy at seeing her brother. She jumped off the log and leaped into her brothers arms, giving him the biggest bear she could muster. Kirito forgot all about their lesbian make out session and returned the hug, throwing away his normally cool attitude and crying like a bitch. The two stood in each others arms, saying "I miss you" and "I'm so glad to see you"

"Oh my god I thought you were dead!" Suguha said, pulling away to purposely show Kirito her sad. She wanted to make him feel guilty for leaving her all alone. She knows it's not his fault, but it's a little sisters job to irritate their brothers. It worked, Kirito looked away in guilt.

"I'm sorry. I won't leave you alone again." he sealed his promise with another hug. The other girl stared at them, a little jealous of him being in her arms. Kirito opened his eyes to see the girl pouting, and childishly stuck his tongue at her. "So who is she?" Kirito asked woke pulling.

"Oh, this is Asuna" she motioned to Asuna, who waved bit hated the guy with her eyes. "Asuna, this is my brother, Kirito. I can't to you guys real name of course unless I have his permission.

"-A pleasure."

"-A pleasure."

They both said in unison, creating even more tension that Suguha could plainly see. She laughed nervously, getting their attention.

"We met the day after the Field of Slaughter."

"Did you kill anyone?"

"Quite a lot." Changing the subject she said, "We actually tried to kill each other. We thought the other was attacking and tried to defend ourselves."

"So who won?"

"It was a tie." They both said in unison, a happy smile on their face as they thought of me being without the other if one had killed the other. The two being together basically kept them sane. They've save each other's life more times than they can count. The same goes for the amount of kills. Continuing, Suguha said, "I've taken Kenjutsu classes so I'm good with blades, and Asuna here is a naturally born swordsman." She did this last bit dreamily, looking at the girl with an admiring smile. Asuna looked away embarrassed at the obvious praise. "We fought till none of us could stand, completely exhausted. We called a truce once we realized we weren't going to kill each other and took a dip in a river to cool off. We talked and just hit it off."

"You? Hit it off? So the two of you…?" he pointed at the both of them with his forefinger before poking them together. The two girlfriends blushed but nodded. "So that slurping noise I heard was you two…?" the blush got deeper, turning Crimson. "And that groaning was actually…?" damn it Kirito can't you leave well enough alone?!

"Yes we're gay with each other! Jesus can you stop now, we're gonna pass out from embarrassment!" Kirito saw them both swaying on their feet, faces beat red.

"Hehe, sorry." For the next two hours the three talked, catching up and getting to know the other. Suguha went through a sad phase as she learned that Kirito found his first love, even though he denied it. She had a major crush on him for a few years, and was sad to see him be taken. Then again, she does have Asuna now, so she at least has someone to be with. No reason to complain there. She was also shocked, knowing how what it was Kirito who unintentionally started the sudden killing spree. Asuna sympathized with him, as she had went into a massive rage after seeing someone cut down another. She was even one of the few who stayed and kept fighting after most everyone left. The girl won't blame him for starting the massacre, but isn't happy about it either.

When Suguha mentioned how he started it all, Kirito froze suddenly, thinking back to that day and the previous ones. Ashley and her friends told him that it would take only one kill to start a massive murder spree. Was it really a coincidence that two days later Diavel Killed Klein and tried to kill Ashley? It did cause Kirito to go into rage and killed Diavel out of hate.

" _She used me."_ He thought, anger growing stronger in his thoughts. _"They fucking used me! They took my trust and sense of Justice and used it against me! They planned it all along. They killed Klein! It's all a lie for their own selfish desires. It's. It's. It's genius."_ No really. If Kirito had a conscious even slightly smaller, he would've done the same thing. They came up with it that fast? No. Ashley came up with the plan. He could always see the intelligence in her emails during their pen paling. **(3)** It's quite the impressive feat, even if it was slightly evil. "I am so in love with her right now." He muttered dreamily under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's get going." He says getting off the tee he was comfortably leaning against. "Staying in one spot for to long is dangerous. It'll get dark soon so we need to find a spot we can camp." The girls nodded, eating the last few bites from the boar they cooked and ate while talking. With that done, they stood up and followed Kirito as he waltzed into the brush in search of a good camping spot.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

An hour later, they heard a noise. A particular noise that sent them into a crouch. This noise, was actually a combination of them. Talking. Walking. Clattering. Weapons jangling. These noises came from the distance by the hundreds. Hundreds of voices taking, hundreds of marching foot steps, hundreds of weapons clashing. It must be a large fight is what Kirito thought as they slowly walked through the brush.

The three came to the edge of the forest on top of a large hill, almost cliff. They looked down to see a sight that they'd normally only see in old war movies. It was a giant encampment miles long, made of tents and small wood buildings. In the middle of the clearing are hundreds, possibly thousands of other players dressed in black cloaks and light armor. They marched in place, swinging their weapons or thrusting their Spears. To the east were catapults, trebuchet, and men carrying wooden rams, thrusting them forward as if to practice breaking something down, a wall for instants; these war machines appears by the dozens. The whole encampment was surrounded by a wall made of wood.

"What are they doing?" Suguha wondered as she looked at the war machines. "Why would they need so much fire power?"

Asuna and Kirito both knew the answer, not liking it one bit. "I know why." Asuna says aloud. "My uncle is in the military, he's seen this before. These guys are preparing for war." That very word sent shivers up their spines. War is something they've never encountered before. Their country was spared from attacks during world War 3 so their country hasn't seen battle for over seventy years. It's a foreign concept they can't hope to comprehend.

"Whether they're going to war or not, they're more safe than anyone else is." Suguha said, breaking the tense silence. "We'd be better off in that army camp than out here. Let's join them." a sound and logical idea. Sure, why not. Worst that could happen is they die. Which let's face, is a better fate than living in this world.

They slowly made their way down the cliff and approached the entrance of the camp, an open gate guarded only by two sentries. The sentries calmly waited as the three got closer, putting out their hand once they were ten feet away to get them to stop.

"State your intentions." The guard in the right said.

"We'd like to join your group." Kirito replied just as calmly, only freaking out on the inside. Preparations for war was going on right behind that wall, scaring the crap out of anyone who isn't familiar with the concept. The left guard didn't fall for the tough guy act, laughing harshly and amusingly. He pointed his spear at the wall.

"Do you know what's going on back there?" he asked, his voice a thick British accent. "Training is what's going on. Saying you want to join wouldn't be the right way to say it. It'd be more like enlisting then joining. Knowing this, would you still be willing to join?" they knew the risks, discussing the possibilities on the way to the gate and agreeing that it's worth being safe.

"We're sure." Asuna said. The two guards looked at each other, the one on the left shrugging after several seconds. He pulled out a wooden whistle and blew into it, releasing a piercing noise, but not powerful enough to get the whole camps attention. Seconds later, another member came running out of a nearby tent towards them, stopping in front of the guards and saluting.

"You're orders?"

"Got a couple of new recruits, take them to see PoH." The guard turned back to the three. "Try to make a good impression. Otherwise, he'll kill you on the spot." They thanked him for his advice and followed the man into the camp. Add they walked through, Kirito made several examinations. First off are the slaves, which is pretty obvious considering the way he is treated. Considering he never saw the harm in slaves that deserve it, Kirito was alright with it, albeit a little mad at the way they were treated. Next he saw inside the tents. Each tent had at least two occupants, and five cots. Meaning that those in the field training aren't the only ones. Doing the math, their numbers must range in the thousands. Most concerning, everyone's levels were slightly higher than his own. He hasn't killed anyone in two weeks so it's understandable that they'd be higher. Still, it's worrisome.

The group came to a stop at a tent much larger than the others. It was obviously the leaders tent. On their knees in front of the tent are three people: two girls and one guy. Both girls are blonde while the guy has black hair. Their hands were tied behind their backs and their mouths are gagged with rope. Standing in front of them was a tall man covered in a tattered back cloak. He was obviously angry. The aura surrounding him reminded Kirito of the magic man. Only this guy had black hair and a thick beard, and gripped two iron daggers in both hands. Dual wielding.

"Do you have _any_ idea who you killed?!" he yelled, voice filled with hate as he yelled at them. "Johnny Black was like a brother to me. He was my everything! The only thing keeping me from killing every single person in this camp. And you took him away from me! I now sentence your to death. Your execution will take place right now!" be pulled his knife back, ready to gut the man like a fish. Before he could though, he noticed the escort and Kirito's group standing there silently. "What, can't you see in busy?"

"We have three new recruits sir." He backed away and pushed the three forward to meet their new leader. PoH turned to turn, looking each member up and down, looking for any sense of humanity, something that is no longer required in this world.

"You know," be said, skepticism evident in his voice. "We have certain, qualifications, that need to be met if you want to join. You're level is high enough, your cursors are red. But, I still need to give you a test." He juggled his daggers as a form of intimidation. It didn't work though, as Kirito stepped forward.

"We're not afraid to do what is necessary. Bring it on." he says why the upmost confidence. PoH smiled sadistically, teeth and all, and pointed his knife at the three on the floor. "Kill these three!"

…

-"Finally!"

-"Thank you!"

-I thought you'd never ask!"

The three stepped forward and unmercifully beheaded the three criminals in cold blood. PoH blinked, looking at Kirito questioningly with a raised brow.

"Oh, we haven't be about to kill anyone in a while." Kirito explained. "Me for two weeks, and these two for four days. We haven't managed to level for a while." He finished, making PoH smile.

"I'm going to like you three. Follow me I've got to show you something." He said while walking towards his tent. The three followed him inside. Inside was a comfortably looking cot, covered in sheets filled with grass and a blanket made of wool. A poorly made wooden table sat to their immediate left. In the middle of the round table was a diamond shaped hole. Immediately, Poh headed for that, pulling map projector and putting it in the hole and turning it in. The hologram popped up, covering the whole table. It shows everything inside the first difficulty level.

He pointed at seven random clumps of something, the one in the south and the middle of the map being the largest. "I'll send you the map data for this in a second. These large clumps represent camps like this one, only not owned by us. The giant one to the south is us, and the one in the middle is the town of beginnings." PoH looked up from the table to look them each in the eye. "in a month, we will launch a full scale assault on each camp, completely destroying each one, leaving us as the dominant power in this game. This is war, and you're Japanese like me so you know nothing about it too. So, I'll give you one part chance to opt out, I don't blame you. If you do stay, and we win this war, you'll become rich and powerful in this world. If we lose, we'll all die. So, what do you?" the three thought the a total of three seconds before coming to an agreement.

"We'll stay." They said in unison. PoH smiled, standing up straight and extending his hand for a shake. Kirito grabbed and shook it.

"Welcome to The Laughing Coffin."

 **should I change this to M? And also, I don't approve of racism. I just used that word to make it fit with the guy and his character. Can you guess who the magic man is? I won't tell until the time is right.**

 **To lighten things up, things have gotten pretty seriously lately, I decided to add some fan service and comedy in this chapter to make it more entertaining. Don't expect much of it though.**

 **Intelligence is attractive. What can I say.**

 **Anyway, I'll be spending time with my family so I won't update till mid January I think. I will also continue updating every two weeks So, merry Christmas and Happy new year. Remember to have fun, get drunk, and fuck your lover. Lol.**

 **Ciao!**


	5. Chapter 5

**In celebration of the season finale of The Walking Dead, and the arrival of Negan, there will be a lot of cursing in this chapter, and a lot of violent scenes. NO, SERIOUSLY, the ending scene might be too violent for some of you, maybe even vomit inducing. Made my sister puke, so you know. I'm changing the rating to M after this chapter because of this scene.**

 **Also, I copy paste my chapters. For some reason when they paste, the italics don't stay. So from now on whenever someone is thinking something, it'll be represented by an apostrophe at the beginning and end.**

 **Example: '"I'm so fucking high right now!"'**

Ashley and the gang entered the giant sand castle style stone castle with their escort. How the castle was made they'll never know. The castle wasn't here in the beginning of the game, so it must have been player made. The buildings in this world are made by hand though, stacking rocks, wood, or bricks on top of each other to resemble the desired building before hitting the complete button. The building will be encased in a bright green light and a stable looking building will take its place. If you built it right. So how they were able to stack them up to ten stories in the air is beyond them!

Besides a few wooden benches, there wasn't much in terms of decor. A canvas with a poorly drawn painting of the town hung on the wall, a few unfinished painted dark green walls, and a potted plant are the only items that even resemble fancy, or even good looking.

The group took a flight of circular stairs up to the top of the castle, ending at large wooden double doors. Adolter felt like being a badass, and quickly pushed both doors open, making them slam against the wall with a bang, only to turn green at the sight before him. Their leader, the man that brought them all together and lead them to peace and prosperity, Kibaou, was showing his dark side again. Everyone in the town knew that Kibaou is a sadistic selfish asshole, but goes along with it. So they have a psycho for a leader, big whoop. Donald Trump became president and practically started World War 3. All countries have terrible leaders at some point, unable to justify some of their worst actions.

In this case, Kibaou is fully justified. This man single handedly assured the safety of over three thousand players, and only at twenty two years old. The man got the players under his care to level up three times faster than Kayaba had anticipated them to. Kibaou solved the overpopulation problem in the town by forcing the uselessness into being slaves. The latter ideal was spread all over the world, accepted by all who heard of his means.

So why should they care that he's an evil man? Yes he kills anyone who gets in his way, publicly executes those that try to dethrone him, legalized the use of slaves in the world, and invented the Fire Belly Torture Method, and was even heard calling himself God. All the goods he's done overthrows the bad, though. The people of the town can't afford to lose someone like that. It is insane to overthrow the person that keeps peace in the world.

Their hero is currently ramming his cock into a preteen girl bent over his desk. He is yelling at the bitch to scream louder and beg him to stop, which she was unhappy to oblige, all the while his fists crashed down on the back of her head. The two guards stationed in the room looked on uncomfortably. Sympathy is a useless emotion, everyone in the game knows that, but they can't help but feel sorry for the slave. They kept telling themselves that she deserves it. If she hadn't been so weak to want others to fight for them, then she might have been down there with the other happy players. The same goes with every other slave going through the same thing everywhere

Kibaou came inside her with a grown, pulling out of the girls abused cunt and slamming the girls head on the desk hard enough to knock her unconscious before throwing her limp body onto the floor.

"What the fuck do you guys want?! Can't to see I was busy!" he screamed angrily as he opened his menu to equipment his clothes and armor. As an intimidation tactic he removed the four foot hammer and dropped it onto the desk, which struggled under the weight of the weapon.

Adolter put on his stoic and professional face. "Sir, we have three new people here who claim to have come in contact with Laughing Coffin." He reported as he moved away for his leader to see his new recruits. Kibaou walked out from his desk, looking the three up and down while clicking is tongue.

"So, you guys met those psychos huh? What happened?" Ashley told their made up story on their "encounter" with the infamous group Laughing Coffin. "Hmm. Those fucking cock suckers are getting more and more bold. How big was your camp? Player wise."

"About 200." Aaron answered.

"And how do you know that?"

"He worked on the food distribution in the town." Indigo covered for him quickly.

"Yeah I had to ration and distribute the food, so I had to-"

"I don't care, I was just curious. Better question: did you see a scarred man in a black hood duel wielding daggers? Obvious child fucker if you've seen him.

"No, why?" Ashley asked.

"That man is the leader of the Laughing Coffin. PoH killed a few hundred people in the game, and his lackeys killed a few thousand players. In total they must have killed three thousand of our people. That fucker is the closest person to leaving this game." Instead of icy hatred, Kibaou's eyes was filled with jealously. Aaron searched for an answer coming to the obvious conclusion that Kibaou wanted to be the one to leave the game first. This PoH is beating him to it so the leader has him on his hit list.

"He did the same to us." Ashley said with fake hate in her voice. "That fucking turd killed-"

"I don't care." He says once again, making her come to a shocked stop. "What I do care about is your strengths. Do you fuckers have the balls to kill any cunt that comes at us? I can't have any pussies in my town who aren't willing to shove their fist at least ten inches up an invaders asshole. So do you?"

They didn't even need a second to answer. "We're willing to kill anyone that gets in our way." Ashley answered.

"Halle-fucking-lujah! You cunts might actually be worth something in this town." Kibaou walked over to his desk, stomping hard on his sex slave's chest as he went, earning a pain cry from her, and pulled out three sheets of paper from a drawer, writing his signature on them. "Everyone is required to have at least thirty hours of military service per month or else you'll be punished via the Fire Belly torture." How many times has Indigo cum today? Three in the last half hour alone, this being the fourth with a total of ten. "When you're done with that you're free to do whatever you want: gamble, drink, fuck, farm, fuck on the farm, don't ask." He added hastily as Aaron opened his mouth. Under his breath Kibaou said, "Crazy pig fuckers." And in a louder voice said, "Report to military school first thing tomorrow morning, they leave at noon.

Ashley and Adolter make plans to meet up later, the former planning to put her love protection plan into effect. She's never had sex before, but that will just help in her innocent act to get him to do whatever she wants. After sending them a copy of the latest map, they part, and the gang heads to a well known restaurant called restaurant to discuss their plan.

It's a cozy looking wood building. It has booths made of wood and leather sitting against the windows, and after entering, a wooden counter sits to the immediate right where a young woman tends to. The ebony looked up from her book, possibly a log, and greeted them with a smile.

"Welcome to my restaurant: Restaurant. Home of the best food in this town or any. I'm Noin, how can I help you?"

"Um, how the fuck name happen?" Indigo asked, cutting off Ashley who wanted to get a table. Noin smiled, going through this every day with new visitors.

"Originally it was going to be called chandelier, named after my sisters restaurant, but chose restaurant instead since no one would know what the store is for. So, what can I help you with? We're also an information broker by the way. Information or food?"

"We'll take both."

"Alright, just take a seat and we'll see to you in a bit.

The gang sat in a chair in a booth in the top left corner of the store. Aaron starts the conversation in hushed tones as the place was quite crowded. "Let's get our plan together. Indigo, did you notice anything that can be used to our advantage?"

"Several actually," Indigo said, taking a sip from her drink. "This place is peaceful, too much actually. These fuckers don't expect an attack of some kind to occur, choosing to kill only when they have to. I've even overheard several people planning to propose or get married. We can use this to our advantage. I found an alley that is off the radar from everything else. We can take some players into the alley and kill them there. With the amount of people here no one will notice. We'll take turns with the kills."

"What happens if people begin to notice the decrease in population?" Aaron asked skeptically. "We probably killed more than three hundred in total out there. With only a few thousand here, I'm sure someone will notice eventually."

"Of please, everyone in this town are nothing but retarded little shits. They probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a cunt and a cock. If it comes to that though, we have three options." Ashley said. "The first is we go on a massive killing spree. They're bound to notice that we are in the area at all the murders and will come after us, so we should leave as soon as possible. Before that though, we should take out as many as possible. Might as well get our money's worth right? The second option is to lead them off our trail. Find a new place to make our kills and change every week or so. If this spot is as great as you say it is Indigo, then we can't afford to lose it until the last minute." the other two thought it over, nodding their heads in approval.

"And what's the third option?" Aaron asked, causing a smile to come to the leader's face.

"I hear this Kibaou is a vicious fucking psychopath."

"Like us?"

"Psh, He doesn't even come close to our level. Anyway, a person like him is supposed to crack eventually right? We pin the murders on him, and because of his history, they'll believe it, and execute him. I hear that Adolter is his right hand man, secretary of defense in this town. He'll take over, I'll fuck him, and viola! The town is ours." Aaron and Indigo mimicked her smile, fingers twitching at the amount of power that comes with the last plan. Aaron allowed a momentary chuckle before getting serious, stopping the other two's laughter mid ha.

"I think it's time we plan further ahead." Aaron said, opening his inventory in search of something.

"How far ahead?" Ashley asked.

"A decade." he said, taking out his map and projecting it onto the booth table. "According to my calculations, at the rate we're going, it will take ten years for us to hit that ten thousand kill mark and escape the game. We need to look far into the future, especially politically." Aaron zoomed in to examine the clumps that represent towns. "These are other towns in the first zone. Seven in total. The one to the north is us, with five separating us and the equally large town to the south. I see two possibilities: the towns in the middle will expand to form one whole town, making three in total where a few hundred thousand will live in total. Eventually, these towns will get to the point where there's only a few miles between us. At this point it can go three ways: A) The towns will combine to form one large nation. B) The three get into an argument that forces us to split away from the others. C) the three get into a massive war, killing hundreds of thousands. Maybe even a combination of the last two."

"What's the second possibility?"

"The second is less likely but still good for us. The second possibility is complete and total chaos. All the towns destroy each other, making all the millions of other players in hiding not have the ability to trust anyone. No towns will be made anymore, only mini guilds between well trusted friends. From that point on: it's every man for himself. There's a downside though. With every man fight for themselves, they'll do everything they can to survive."

"Meaning they'll be stronger." Ashley said, understanding where he was going. "What's our plan of action for the former?"

"In case of the former, Possibility A, it's the best option for us."

"How so?" Indigo asked, eyes wandering to the booth in the bottom left corner of the store, where three tall men stared at the two girls with lust. One noticed her staring and licked his lips at her. Well, guess she found their first three kills.

"The first possibility can mean only one thing, and that is the people in the game have given up. They no longer care about leaving this game and instead choose to live the remainder of their life in this world until their real body dies. Since we will be one of the few that actually cares about leaving, it'll make us the strongest in the game. We'll leave in only a few months. Possibility B, if they do split up and never talk to each other, then we don't interfere at all. It won't be necessary and I see no reason for us to. Possibility C, we kill as many people as possible. That war will lead to an all out massacre that will last for who knows how long. Once on person gets the bloodlust from the battle, everyone will. Even those who didn't participate will hear about it and want to kill. Murder is like a disease you know. The strong ones will definitely want to slaughter anyone and everyone, so it'll get us to that ten thousand population limit quicker, and gives us more exp when we kill them. So, any thoughts?" The two shook their heads. The plan is pretty solid, not a single flaw found. And if anything unaccounted for happened, then all it takes is a few adjustments.

"So Ashley, out of curiosity, how many guys do you think you'd be about to take on at the same time. And I mean that in seduction terms!" Indigo added quickly once she saw the appalled look on her face. "But I also mean how your sex stamina is. I hate to make this awkward, but it needs to be said. Winking, flirting, and dressing like a whore can only get you so far. Eventually you're going to have to put out. Jerking and sucking their cock won't be enough, and you'll eventually have to go all the way."

Ashley signed reluctantly. '"No room for fear, no room for hesitation. Do everything necessary."' Ashley chanted in her head. (A/N: Now before you protest, this is necessary. Ashley will have to have sex with many people in order to have sufficient and powerful people in her corner. There won't be any lemons, but there will be a description on what it was like in her POV) "Speaking logically, I think I'd have the stamina to have sex maybe three times a day. I mean, like you said all I have to do at first is jerk and suck them off. By the time I have to have actual sex I think I'll be use to have dick in my hands and mouth."

"There is literally no way for you to prepare for something like that without experiencing it yourself." Indigo said. "Aaron and I have done it a few times before, so I can give you some tips. It might hurt at first if you have a hymen. You might want to consider sticking your fingers up there and break it yourself. If there isn't any pain, then it will definitely be uncomfortable. It will be strange, like wearing something way to tight to fit you, but you don't have a choice cause there's nothing else to wear. After getting past all that, it'll be pleasurable and you'll have a great time. But since you have no choice in the matter, it will be more like rape to your psyche."

"If you do have a hymen then it will be painful." Aaron said. "My first time was quick and aggressive. Without going into the details since we're going to eat, I'll just say that it felt very good. I disregarded everything my partner was feeling just to get my release. Since I was an unexperienced virgin, I came quickly. It was, like, five minutes tops. So if you do have a hymen and he's a virgin, then it'll definitely be painful." Ashley remained stone faced. Weakness has no room in this game. On the inside she was freaking out. She isn't like Indigo. She doesn't want to have sex with so many people, and therefore will feel like rape for a long time. A first kill may be bad, but it pales when it compares to getting raped. Her mother and best friend can attest to that. Ashley is the result of rape, and her former best friend before meeting Indigo got raped as well. A shotgun shell to the head ended that pain. She watched her best friend's brain splatter the walls of her room.

The conversation ended when Noin came and brought them their food: Broth and bread. Besides plain meat and bread, stew is pretty much the only thing to eat in this world. She gave them each their food, along with a wooden mug of tea, and sat next to Aaron across from Ashley.

"So what can I tell you guys? We charge 2000 Col per information. And if it is something big, the price increases."

"I don't think that'll be a problem." Ashley said. She opened her menu and sent a trade request to Noin, opening a window with nine bars of zeroes and am up and down arrow on either side do adjust the price. Several boxes below the price is where one would place an item for trade. She pushed the up arrow several times until it hit twenty thousand.

"Since we have coin to spare, tell us everything we need to know about this town, things ordinary players should know and even things they shouldn't or don't know or ask on a daily basis. This also includes the history of the town, any important guilds, those we should avoid, you get the idea."

Noin leaned back, placing a finger under her chin in thought. "Where should I start? I guess I'll tell you how this town came together. I was one of the first to arrive in the town. A few friends and I agreed that this would be the safest place. In only a few hours, hundreds of players had arrived. The next day we all decided that we would work together to survive this game. Then on the third day, three groups numbering a few hundred each arrived at the same time. We all thought the same thing: it's an invasion. We drew our weapons, prepared for another slaughter. Then Kibaou came. He was actually taking a nap and woke up from all the commotion. I think he said something along the lines of "Pipe the fuck down, I'm trying to fucking sleep here!". He then beat the shit out of anyone that confronted them, screaming words like cunt, faggot, and bitch.

"Somehow that caused us to respect him. He ended up being leader, and we worked together to make this place work. Now, important guilds. There is a guild called The Watchmen. They're basically the places military. Everyone is required to join the guild for at least a week to see if they want to have the military add a career, not just thirty hours of service. There is also the guild called The Saviors. It's an underground guild of thieves and murderers. The name is obviously used ironically, fighting for themselves to leave the game."

"What are their levels." Ashley asked, thoughts that the alleys might belong to them in her mind.

"Most of them are level 15, but the leader is 19."

'"Damn, that means if we ever meet him we'll have a challenge."' Ashley thought. Aloud she said, "What level is Kibaou right now? I didn't catch that when we met him."

"He had a public meeting two weeks ago. His level was high 18 then. I don't know what it is now. Anyway, rules. You don't know this but Kibaou made an official day called Free Fuck Thursday. Now, despite the name it isn't about sex. Instead it's a day where to get to go out, get drunk, do drugs, I'll get back to that last one later, and kill others without any consequences. It ends at midnight so enjoy it. That's the only time Kibaou actually leaves that castle. Back to the drugs. Mushrooms can be found in damp shadows of any building. Kibaou made them legal as a way to keep your mind off death. It helps calm the populous Y'know, and the last effect is Paralysis into a peaceful dream. It's like soma in the Brave new world.

"There is a curfew starting at eleven. If you get caught, you will be put in jail for three days, and given your first warning. After three warnings, you'll be tortured." Cue Indigo's wet cunt. "And after three more torture sessions, you'll be locked up until your stats are low enough to be made a slave. Speaking of which, if slaves try to leave they'll be tortured, and then publicly executed, the same goes for anyone attempting a coup."

"How are they executed exactly?" Indigo asked, left hand rubbing against her cunt under the table. The table cloth hiding her arousal. The black battle skirt she wears, long in the back reaching her shin, and short in the front, only going mid thigh, gives her easy access.

"Well, they have a wheel with eight execution methods. The wheel spins and chooses your death. The first is a simple beheading. The second is covering you in goats blood naked and placing you in a cage suspend in the air. The crows will kill you." one finger. "The third is stripping you naked, hanging you upside down and sawing you in half starting at the groin." Two fingers. "The fourth is the Steel Coffin. They strip you naked and put you in a Coffin made of metal after feeding you a fire belly. It stands upright and sits in a pile of burning coal. A hole in the top let's us hear them scream. On the front is glass that let's us see them suffer, and that has magical heat resistance." And like that Indigo's high gets replaced with power hungry curiosity, removing what would have been a fist in her vagina and placing it on her lap.

"There's magic in this game?" the girl said, leaning all the way over the table and looking Noin in the eye.

"Oh, no that's what people call it. We just put a fire belly in the batch while making the glass. Somehow it makes it resistant to fire, same with armor and weapons. No one knows how it works so they call it magic." Indigo pulled away in disappointment and bashed her head against the table. "I-I'm sorry. I forgot that you didn't understand the slang in this town." She said feeling bad and wanting to say anything to get the girl to stop bashing her head. Ashley stopped be friend and gently patted her on the head.

"It's okay. I felt the same way." Ashley whispered, tears streaming down both their faces, making Noin sweat drop.

"Okay. That's all the important stuff you should know. Anything else is particular?"

Ashley patted Indigo's iron breast plate. "How does this exist?"

"The iron? Well it turns out that a certain someone, AKA, Kayaba, forgot to mention that a iron mine runs under this city. We just had to clear it out of monsters and now we have access to the iron."

"Has anyone made steel yet?"

"Lisbeth is studying up on it."

"Studying?" Aaron asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, there is a library room in the mime. It has books on how to make armor and weapons. You need to actually learn how to do it. The same with growing crops and taking care of animals. Those books are found in a large stable near the middle of the town. If there is magic, I assume you'd have to go through the same process. Anyway, the other execution methods are burning at the stake, crucifixion, hanging, and my personal favorite, chaining you in a tank of water, with armor on, and your head sticking out the top. Inside are dozens of piranha that will eat you alive. It takes Five minutes for the fish to eat through your armor, so it's also psychologically torture. So, any more questions?"

"One more question: who's the Laughing Coffin?"

There is what's called a special word. This word or set of words is special and most ears tune in to that persons conversation once the word has been said. No matter how quiet you speak, the word will be heard by everyone in the vicinity. Words like sex, terrorism, drugs, and gun or bomb always gets your attention. In the month that they've been here, the words Laughing Coffin became one of these. The moment Ashley said these words, the whole restaurant became quiet and looked towards their booth. The three looked around, wondering what was going on.

"What's the deal?" Aaron said firmly, looking back at Noin. The girl was snapped back to the present at the question, her eyes previously dazed and watering, most likely due to a bad memory.

"Sorry. It's-, it's just that, the LC is a taboo word in this town." Noin stuttered, still recovering from her moment in the flashback.

"Why? Who is the laughing Coffin exactly?"

"They're a group of fucking monsters is what they are." A new rough voice said, coming from a short brunette in chain mail and carrying an ax that walked to their table. "They're a murder guild who only fight for themselves. They have taken down many towns in only a month, even attacking the players in hiding. Killers hiding in the shadows. They're powerful and well equipped. I'm not just talking about swords and armor. They have medieval weapons of war like catapults, trebuchet, and canons."

"Trebuchet and cannons? How the fuck did they get their hands on that?"

"Rumor has it that they've taken over an NPC military base." Noin said. "Go to your maps and you'll see a giant clump of buildings to the south. That one is the base of Laughing Coffin. The rumors say that the NPC was supposed to be a quest we take to get more advanced weapons. Instead the Laughing Coffin kills them all and takes over. A week or two ago, they even attacked us. Hundreds of them broke through the walls and killed a lot of us. We were barely able to fight them off, but by then over a third of our population was killed."

"Well, Kibaou publicly executes people in the worst way possible, how are we any better?"

"They did. They did awful things! I-, I'm sorry I can't." the girl stood abruptly and marched into the back room, tears streaming down her fact, making the trade window close. The brunette from earlier gave her a quick sympathetic glance before turning back to the three.

"There were 15 boys in this town, ranging from five to ten years old. The Laughing Coffin kidnapped them all. One of them was her brother. We found their bodies three days later, right in front of the gate to town. Each one was impaled on a stake, completely naked. Their own penis was ripped off and inside their own ass, and their testicles were in place where their eyes should be, and vice versa."

 **Ending on a very violent note. Definitely changing to M rating. Anyway, sorry for the delay, I was kind of binge watching Hellsing Ultimate and got distracted. This would've been posted ten days earlier if I hadn't been distracted.**

 **So, I will see you on the twentieth.**

 **Ciao!**


	6. Short

**THEY'RE FUCKING DOING IT! THEY'RE MAKING A VIRTUAL REALITY OF SWORD ART ONLINE!**

 **I can't fucking believe it! It's so fucking awesome! You have no idea how happy I am! My dick is so fucking hard right now I could Crack steel. You can wrap it in barbed wire and call it world war two. It feels like I took an ecstasy tablet after smoking a joint then having a three way in a Hollywood Undead concert in Detroit. Right in the middle of the mosh pit. I feel like I can fuck a Russian turnip freshly harvested on new years eve with no lube and my parents watching.**

 **So in a nutshell I'm fucking happy!**

 **Anyway, in the Anime rwby, they have an episode now and then that explains something. I'm doing the same thing, which I recommend reading, as it affects the end of the story greatly.**

 **Well, enjoy**!

Year 2032

?: war is very familiar to me. I've seen hundreds of thousands of people die in front of me. In fact, thousands have fallen to my blade. People I loved died before me. Do you know what war is? It is pain, it is torture, it is murder. Sao was the worst thing to ever happen to me. I lost almost everything in that hell hole. The worst part though, is that I can't get revenge. If I ever see him, no matter where it is, I'd kill him on the spot, fuck the consequences.

Let me tell you a story. I once played a game called Enemy Lines (A/N: No shit, this actually happened to me in real life. The name is changed for copyright reasons) It's kind of like Clash of Clans. The only exception is that you run a city, not a village. All the cities are on a single map with their own coordinates. You can roam through the map and find someone you can attack. And instead of joining a clan, you can make an alliance with other cities. The top alliances, meaning in the top twenty, have at least a hundred members each. The leaders of the alliances have three options with the other alliances: Friendly, Neutral, and unfriendly. To put it simply, there are ten alliances who teamed up, the green team, and the other side who teamed up, the red team. There weren't any teams, just to make it easier to explain. We treated members of the opposite team badly, attack them without a second thought just for being on the other side. The attacks got so bad, that no one could level up. So a ceasefire was made, and negotiations began.

The top two alliance leaders, who are on opposite sides, decided to have a chat on Facebook. They friended each other, and representing the rest of the team of alliances, talked about a treaty. A few friends and I waited for two hours on the game chat, hoping to God that we don't go to war. The two hours were over, and in unison, everyone in the green team alliance, and everyone in the red alliance, received the same message from the top two alliance leaders: We are at war.

The green and red team went into a full blown world war. This isn't like a clash of clans war, where you can attack only this many times. This is an unregulated, no rules Total War. Where you search the map, and if you happen to find someone on the opposite side, you attack relentlessly. No shields after am attack. The war got so large, that the alliances asked for help from the top alliances twenty one to forty. How did the war end? Or didn't end with a place treaty, it ended with nothing. The war destroyed many of the top alliances, the people getting so tired of the fighting that they left and went to different servers. Anyone not in alliances were attacked constantly and they left the game entirely. Eventually the fighting stopped. It didn't stop with a ceasefire, a treaty, or a a winner. Everyone just got tired of the constant fighting and either left the war, stopped fighting, or leave the whole server.

That is what war is. Nonstop action. Nonstop bloodshed. Constant attacks.

There was one person in particular that I remember greatly. His name was Sang Jin Kuk. Even though he was only ten, he fought harder than anyone I've ever met. He had to make it home to see his younger sister. They had promised to marry each other. What, they're kids, they don't know any better. Besides, the culture is different. This boy had his level only a little higher lower than mine despite his age. He's probably killed more people than I did. We met at Laughing Coffin. He figured today hanging with the most dangerous players will keep him alive. A smart plan at that. At the Battle of The Concrete Bowl, he died. The first casualty after the fifth and final purge.

A week before the battle, he told me that he'll probably die there. To make his last days good, I fucked him. For six whole days we locked ourselves in an Inn and fucked our brains out. Pretty good for a kid. I even got a few of the slaves to help. A seven way. It was, actually the best day of my life. I was able to confess all my feelings to him, tell him about the dark side of my heart. He understood me, even better than my boyfriend. A beautiful, orgasmic week.

After the fifth purge, I had to get my level back up. And Sang was the closest person there. He fell by my sword. The worst part though, is that I cut off his head and kept it in my inventory. I kept it fresh with a healing potion. Whenever I felt down, I took him out, talked to him, made out with him, and pressed his open mouth between my bare thighs. I kidnapped dozens of kids after that, just to try and mimic those feelings. The happiest week of my life.

 **Year 2022**

Who knew. Who knew that a nurse, even in the best hospital in the world, doesn't get paid much. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a surgeon. I'm a fucking nurse. I thought we'd get paid at least as much as they do. I was expecting what the Americans call a six finger salary. Now, on stuck with this crap job, taking care of a bunch of coma patients with fancy helmets on their heads. What I wouldn't give to be them right now. I should have used the helmet to but Sao instead of using it as a motorcycle helmet. Maybe if be in a better position than I am now.

I left my fucking wife so I could have this better job. I took a dump on her carpet after I ate some curry. I bought a new car and house. I'm in do much debt what am I supposed to do?

My thoughts got interrupted by a loud beeping noise. Another patient must've died. I sighed and headed for the room. Once there, I was surprised to see that all four bodies were still alive and well. I hear there is a resurrection item in the game. It's happened before. The patient stats to seize then suddenly goes back to normal. The most possible answer is the rare resurrection item. Lucky bitch. I turn off the alarm and stare at the girl in the bed. Her Auburn haute spills one the she of the bed, even under that helmet, her eyes closed in a peaceful sleep. This bitch! She gets to sleep while we're here working our asses off to keep them alive! In rage, I spit on her face.

Horror hits me as I realized what I just did. I back up hastily, putting my arms out in front of me to save myself from her wrath. If yeah she's in a coma. I make a tsk noise, lowering my arms and sneering at her. She wouldn't notice that I spit on her, she's fucking out cold. She would she wouldn't feel anything. Feel anything.

My curiosity gets the better of me, and I walk over to her bed and pinched her arm with an my might. All that did was leave a bruise on her pale skin. Her delicious looking pale skin. Let's see how asleep she really is.

The thought was now in my mind, and wouldn't leave. I close and lock the door, and yank the blanket off her body. Under the sheet, I find a curvy, good looking body. I hesitantly reach out, and grab her breasts. They're huge, a C, maybe even small D. Squeeze. Soft. I look back at the door, making absolute sure that it is locked. With a deep breath, the buttons to her gown are removed and are pulled apart.

So this is the body of a 15 year old girl huh? She's almost as hot as my ex wife.

Then it happened. My cock took over, and I removed my clothes, getting on the bitch and ramming it up her pussy. For a whole half hour, I fuck her. Releasing my sperm inside, then flipped her over and did the same to her ass. I even pull up the visor of her helmet and fuck her throat raw. Just for fun, I take the bag that connects to the tube in her stomach and piss in it. Three minutes later, half my body is hanging from the bed, the room smells like sex, and I'm exhausted as fuck.

That was actually a good fuck. Took my mind completely off my money problems. That's it! I can have guys come in and pay to have sex with these girls. They won't mind. Hell, they won't even notice!

I dressed myself, and walked around the hospital, looking for the best looking woman possible. I found her in room 3b.

"Ashley." I read from the clipboard. I walked to the side of her bed, caressing her cheek. "You're going to make me very rich." My pants fell, the visor and her mouth opened, and I stuck my dick in.


	7. Chapter 7

The town of Ardbark woke to the sound of falling. Repeatedly. As if hundreds of people were falling face first onto the grass. This constant noise came from the north entrance of the town. With no walls to guard the town, the people gathered at the entrance, weapons in hand, ready to defend their seventeen houses with their lives. Only when they saw what came over the horizon did they lose hope.

This falling sound wasn't people falling to the grass, but the marching of a few thousand men and women from the infamous Laughing Coffin. The cloaks and hoods made it very clear who they were facing. A handful of villagers ran for the trees in some hope of saving themselves, but was cut down by arrows from the mobile arching towers just arriving over the horizon. One managed to get away though, arriving at the next town to deliver the message, causing a chain reaction of messages to the neighboring towns till arriving at the town of beginnings. The remaining villagers stood there, awaiting their fate

It took ten minutes for the army to get to the entrance of the village, where they stopped as the leader stepped forward. His scarred face examined the pathetic attempt of a village, smirking at how easy it would be to take down a town like this.

"May I speak to the leader of this town." PoH said loudly. "I'd like to speak to him to discuss the terms of your unconditional surrender." It took some coercing, but the leader stepped forward. A short man named Schmidt. "Ha! You're their leader? You're barely level fifth teen! Pathetic. But I didn't come here to tell you how much of a disgrace you and your village are. I'm here to negotiate your surrender."

"T-Take whatever your want. Just don't kill us."

"It's not objects that we want. It's something else." PoH learned forward to his knives getting dangerously close to Schmidts neck. "You will surrender leadership to my group, and give us control of your town. We're heading for the town of beginnings. When we leave, we'll have complete control of the town, and any other town we pass on the way." He let this sink in, laughing maniacally pained look on his face. It's one thing to give them your supplies in exchange for their lives, but another to surrender their lives entirely to another. They have their pride God damn it!

Speaking of pride, Schmidt decided to get bold. "And if we refuse?" PoH smiled, finally getting the reply that he wanted all along.

"Xaxa, show these guys what happens when they disobey." the skeleton masked man obliged with pleasure, running forward, faster than anyone in the village can see, and grabbed a young teen by the hair and dragged her back to their group. This happened in seconds, but the force at which he pulled was hard enough to pull it some hair and cause bleeding. He put her to be knees and aimed a pencil thin razor sharp sword art her chest, awaiting his masters orders. "Meat tabagan." (1) Xaxa turned the blade so it faced the side of her breast and pushed. It pierced one breast, came out and went into the other one. Scwering her breasts like meat on a stick. The girl screamed and thrashed in pure agony, not feeling pain like this since the first time her dad drunkenly raped her. "Seconds please." Xaxa removed the sword, keeping her breasts intact thank God, and did the same to her ass cheeks.

"Please stop! We'll give you full control." Xaxa looked towards his leader for confirmation. He nodded, and he removed the sword and threw her to the floor, crying and screaming in the piss covered dirt. Schmidt ran forward and got in his knees, holding the girl's head in his lap and stroking her hair soothingly. "It'll be ok Yolko." He didn't dare look up at PoH laughing, his arms raised in the air as if he was some sort of God.

"You heard him men. This town is ours. Let's go, is showtime!"

XxXxXxXxXx

It has been a month since Ashley and her gang have arrived in the town of beginnings. Since then, they've gone up six levels from leading people in an alley and killing them. Two hundred victims in total. They are now one of the most powerful people in the town, on level with Kibaou.

In this time, several things have happened. Ashley managed to seduce Adolter into being her slave. Every other day they sneak away and give oral to each other. Their plan is now set in motion, and when the guards find the body buried in the rice fields, clutching a ripped piece of Kibaou's shirt, Adolter will take over and they'll have full control of the town. The murders are being called the Choi river murders, for the bodies being washed up along the Choi River. Since then, everyone has grown suspicious of anyone shady looking. Kirito would never survive in this town. The downside, they are some of the suspects.

Being some of the towns strongest players, and rising to the ranks so that it is almost always similar to Kibaou's, the military police have deemed them one of the main suspects on the murders. And who can blame them. After thinking it through thoroughly, the other players have come to a startling thought: two pretty girls who are close to the leader of the town, both of which are high leveled, and the male has been seen repeatedly beating the slave they bought, it must only mean that these are sociopaths. Oh yeah, Aaron bought a slave.

Her name is Sharon. A young girl about fifteen years old, blonde hair, gray eyes, and pretty fuckable. Ever since he bought her, she's been treated as nothing more than trash, a sex and torture slave for Indigo and Aaron. While in the house they bought, they've been using her for their amusement: making her clean a mess they just, raping her, and when in the soundproof basement, torturing her.

In other news, Ashley and the gang have become one of the top officials in the Military Police. After being taught how to lead a group by a man named Thinker, who is on par with their level, they were promoted to captain of their own thirty man man squads, forming a temporary guild with them to help them increase their stats. Since becoming captains, the three sociopaths have been working their charges to the bone, making them work nonstop, constantly grinding and exercising. They don't want to have weak people on their team, so have spent hours training them. Speaking of which, they were in the middle of teaching them right now.

All three were training the **A** section of their squads, made of ten people. Ashley, Indigo, and Aaron watched from the sidelines as their members stood in a circle beating the shit out of each other with thick branches.

"C'mon you slow bitches! Don't charge in guns blazing, look for an opening and go for a finishing move. If you want those swords back then you're going to have to try harder!" Ashley yelled loudly. After seeing their work in the field yesterday, Ashley had taken away their swords, saying that they aren't worthy of holding such weapons if they weren't able to fight off a moving tree fighting with its branches.

"If you can't even fight with sticks, what makes you think you'll be able to fight mobs, let alone other players!" Aaron shouted equally as loud. "You need to analyze your surroundings, looking everywhere for multiple openings. Once you take care of one opening, head to the next one you saw at your last glance."

"Dodge!" Indigo yelled. With her constant shouting of dodging, Indigo's squad has become the best of the three, leaving them with little to no damage once the fight was over, leaving only their group on sitting on the floor gasping for oxygen.

"How you managed to train your troops I'll never know." Ashley teased, making the girl fake pout.

"You just have to think like I do!" she said triumphantly, chest puffed out and hands on her hips.

"Dodging?"

"Exactly. C'mon, we have more training to do." Aaron agreed, truing away from their conversation with an amused smile and back to the troops.

"All right shit eaters, that was ok but not good enough! Ten more laps around the field-"

"Open up! I need help! It's an emergency!" Everyone's eyes turned to the gate twenty feet away from them. Their hands went to the hilt of their swords, or sticks, and got into a drawing stance, and for an unexpected attack. The archers atop the wall got off their asses and aimed their arrows at the bottom of the outside wall.

"What is your purpose?!" the lead archer Nozak asked.

"Laughing Coffin. Laughing Coffin!" the archers turned their bows so it aimed at the surrounding trees, searching for the black cloaks.

"Someone get the fucking gate open!" Nozak yelled, both afraid and alert as he scanned the trees. Aaron and Indigo removed the heavy steel beam that held the gates shut, allowing the young man to enter. Instead of telling them what was going on, he bent over and decided to take a few precious seconds to breathe. Ashley got inpatient, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and slamming him against the wall.

"Speak already!" she threatened, holding up a knife to his cheek. He ignored it though, not at all intimidated due to what he saw before.

"Laughing Coffin." he breathed out. "Laughing Coffin has amassed an army." the crowd that had gathered openly gasped, taking a step back as of the man was cursed. Ashley had no foolish thoughts, ignoring the memories from her first encounter with Laughing Coffin.

"How many?"

"Thousands." another gasp. Ashley released him. As he slid down to the floor, the blonde looked around at the crowd for several seconds before her eyes landed on Thinker. "Thinker, your orders." Thinker was going through some bad memories of the Laughing Coffin when Ashley called his name. He looked up from his shoes startled and took a few moments to process what she asked. "Oh. Um, sir, what's your name?"

"Richard."

"How long until they get here?"

"They came to my camp at morning and I ran all the way here." Thinker looked at a nearby sundial to see it just turned one. "My speed run skill is at level 75. I'd say they'll get here right before the sun sets the day after tomorrow."

"Only two days huh?" in a louder voice he yelled, "Attention everyone, spread the word that we're going to meet in half an hour in the clearing under the castle. Tell them it involves Laughing Coffin, but don't say any more than that. We don't want to cause a panic. Go!" those gathered immediately took off running. "Nozak, come with us, you'll relay the message to the rest of your archers when you return. Archers, remain here. Alert us with a flare if you see anything."

Thinker and Nozak followed the crowd as Aaron and Indigo looked toward Ashley for suggestions. "We use this to our advantage." she told them. "We kill Kibaou in the middle of the fighting and push the Laughing Coffin back."

"You do remember what happened the first time we met these guys right?"

Flashback

 _Ashley and the gang led forty people into a cave. Supposedly there was some monster hiding in inside, killing any villager that came close to it. Everyone in the town in a mile radius of the cave was evacuated, and this team was assembled to enter. The players sent in were treating this like a boss raid, preparing potions and the best equipment they had._

 _The group slowly made their way through the cave system, swords in hand and eyes everywhere. It was supposed to be a simple mission: kill anything that they found in the cave and kill it. This plan went South so fast. Five minutes into the cave, it happened. A metal canister was thrown down in the middle of the group, and exploded in a cloud of smoke. No one noticed the canister though, and thought it to be the monsters attack._

" _Defensive positions!" Ashley yelled, pushing herself to the middle of the group along with Indigo and Aaron. Let these guys risk their lives, not us. The men with shields took the outer positions, men with spears taking the next. Ashley held her bow out with an arrow nocked. If she can get the last attack bonus, if this thing really was a type of boss fight, then she really would be the most powerful one in the game. Once these fools took down enough if its health, she'll fire a single shot and kill it. Suddenly, her bow fell from her hands, hers and the others bodies doing the same._

" _Whoa! Did they really send an entire brigade after us? I'm so touched." Ashley managed to move her head enough to see who was speaking. Black tattered cloaks, creepy looking, incredibly flamboyant,she looked at her name to see her health bar surrounded by a yellow aura. Paralysis. Definitely members of the Laughing Coffin guild. There are three of them, one with a razor sharp sword, one with a black one handed longsword, and one with a short said. "I count forty or so. These are the kind of numbers you'd see in a boss raid. I'm flattered really."_

" _Yeah you're really important Xaxa, just hurry the fuck up and kill them." second member says impatiently, her voice filled with a familiar annoyance._

" _C'mon Asuna don't ruin my fun. I have a right to enjoy this. Tell her K." the one called K ignored them both. Instead his eyes searched the large group of victims for familiar faces. To bad Ashley and her friends had on different armor then they had last. "Whatever. Whelp, time to die." the cloaked figure moved from her view. His heavy boots stomped on the floor for a bit, making the players nearly crap themselves at the building tension. Just kill someone already! Xaxa obliged. His sword came down on the back of someone several feet away. His cry of pain made Ashley flinch. Several more stabs and screams, and he was gone. "As my late friend once said, one down." the other two joined in. Red Eyed Xaxa wanted to have fun so he made sure they died slowly. Asuna didn't know much about the human anatomy show she delivered rapid strikes to her victims until they stopped moving or screaming, and K gave a quick jab to the back of the neck. As they got closer to her, ashley began vibrating her brain, a trick everyone learned to fight off the paralysis effect. It_ does _cause negative effects to your mind, probably in the real world too, but it tricks the system into getting off the paralysis._

 _Thirty of the parts were gone, and the poison still hasn't worn off. Finally, they got to her._

" _I'm sorry." Ashley said to her friends as they watched the blade come down on her back. Over and over the sword pierced her flesh, Aaron and Indigo crying as they watched their leader slowly die._

" _Y'know, this'll be my two hundredth kill." she heard Xaxa say. "I wanna see your face." he pushed her onto her back with his boot and stomped hard on her chest, deleting another ten of her points, bringing it down to twenty. The bastard then twisted her right breast with his foot, just hard and long enough to make her give a painful whimper and bring her points down to five. "I'm not sorry." Xaxa says as he raises the blade in the air, the light reflecting off just enough to show the full tooth smile. It was then that the boot of the other male came into her peripheral._

" _You owe me a kill." he said._

" _Aw c'mon! She's hot. You know I love killing hot people!" he was met with silence. "Ugh, fine. Never should've borrowed that health potion." the boot was removed from her breast, giving her a temporary relief. Then the next killer came and stood before her and raised the sword in the air, this time the light reflecting off his pretty eyes. At least the last thing she gets to see will be those black/gray eyes that are beginning to widen as he looks at her. What?_

" _A-Ashley?" that voice, those eyes, the quick deaths. Is it him?_

 _A ding noise told her the poison has worn off, and she didn't waste a second taking advantage of it. She leg sweeped him and rolled onto her feet. Ducking under a swing from Xaxa, Ashley removed the makeshift flare gun hanging from her hip and fired it at the entrance from the cave. It barely exited the cave, landing at the feet of Kibaou who stood in front of another group of forty players. With a yell he led the players into the cave._

" _Fuck! We're going, move!" the two began to run as K, now confirmed to be Kirito when his hood fell off, got off the floor, holding the blade in his hand defensively, waiting for Ashley to make her move. She didn't, and neither did he. In the end, Kirito gave a nod, and took off after his teammates._

 _The team found an entrance to the cave leading to the outside. Laughing Coffin has been using it to enter the town and kill players, as well as getting info on the town itself. Using pickaxe and shovels, they sealed it off._

End of flashback

"What happens if we come across him in the battle?" Aaron asked. Ashley contemplated this for a moment, looking over the pros and cons of keeping the best player in the game alive. In the end she came to her answer.

"He's not in our side. He's a threat to our existence." although she said it, the hurt in her voice was obvious. "If you get the chance to, kill him."

XxXxXxXxXx

All six thousand plus occupants of the town stood in the town square, Thinker and Kibaou standing in the middle.

"For those of you who don't know, I'll make it brief: Laughing Coffin has amassed an army and will invade this town in two days." cue concerned cries. "As requested, Kibaou has forfeited leadership to the military until the situation has passed, so I'm in charge for now. Richard here has told me that a small town will arrive here later today, giving us a thousand extra hands to fight them off, led by a man named Agil." It was then that Lisbeth pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"I know Agil. He's the one who taught me how to smith before I moved here. He's a better Smith then I am, so he'll make us plenty of weapons."

"Thank you Lisbeth. Now here's what's going to happen. I want the construction team to build a wooden tunnel starting at the gate. When Laughing Coffin busts in, they'll have to go down the tunnel if they want to enter the town. The tunnel will stop halfway between the wall and the first building of the town. In the tunnel we'll have our tanks, holding the best shields that'll be made by Lisbeth and the soon to arrive Agil." He glanced at Lisbeth who needed, already opening her menu and sketching the shield. "Inside this tunnel we will have a squad of people. Squad A. It will consist of Team Aaron, Team Griselda, Team Godfree, and Kibaou and his royal guard. Waiting outside at the tunnel entrance will squad B, which'll consist of Teams Ashley, Indigo, my team which will be led by Yulier in my stead, and the samurai squad Fuurinkazan lead by Dynamm. If the leader deems it necessary, you may switch with another team to allow a small rest, drink potions and all that. Construction team, I want there to be windows every five feet. That way people on the outside will be able to stab through.

"If they manage to push through the tunnel, we have our next one of defense: a hundred tanks in a half circle formation to make a cul-de-sac around the front of the town. I want the cul-de-sac to start half way between the tunnel and the first building. Those pushed back will fall back behind the line of tanks. Standing behind these tanks will be three hundred of our top players. If they somehow manage to get through that and into the town, a block in, there will be another three hundred Soldiers. I want three hundred men every other block. In the block in between we'll have missive trenches with spikes at the bottom, fifth teen feet across. They want to kill us? Then let's make it hard for them to do it. Construction team, after the fifth block of three hundred Soldiers, I want a massive wall two stories high going all the way from east to west. This will have windows just like the tunnel. That's probably all that the construction team can manage, so it'll be our last line of defense before they get into the inner city. Behind that wall will be the remaining thousands of players. On top of the buildings will be our archers. Their job is to provide cover fire and dump boiling oil onto the laughing Coffin members below. Any questions?" everyone raised their hand. "Good. All other positions will be determined via lottery tomorrow. Anyone caught running away will be imprisoned and turned into a slave. Dismissed.

XxXxXxXxXx

The towns construction team is Chinese (Seriously, I hate to be racist but I saw a video where these Chinese construction workers built a skyscraper in eleven or so days) The wall that was built around the town was built in only a week, and it took only twenty two days for all the buildings to be built. The tunnel was made in only a few hours, and ditches finished by next morning, and the wall built that afternoon.

Later today, Agil and his army of one thousand men joined the village, and decided to take the initiative and have their troops stationed outside the wall when Laughing Coffin attacks. Agil and Lisbeth caught up, fucked, and began making their shields. Silica came with Agil, and decided to have her own Dragon brigade. Her Dragon Pina was already the size of an SUV. She found fifty players with rideable dragons and other flying animals, and talked strategy. She and her group will be carrying archers as the fly over, destroy those archer towers and trebuchets, and dumping boiling oil from above. Lisbeth and Agil made them custom made armor to protect themselves from the arrows.

Ashley and Dynamm caught up and talked about Klein. He was such a good person, he protected me from that bastard Diavel, I should have done more. Then she gave him a blow job and added another person to her list of puppets. Aaron and Indigo were discussing strategy. When and if they should leave, and the likelihood of Laughing Coffin winning. There wasn't much. The forests surrounding the town will block off the trebuchets and archer towers. It was at this moment that an explosion went off in the distance. The two shared a concerned glance before running full speed towards the gate. Standing atop the wall, they saw the trees on fire, set ablaze by a makeshift bomb. The next day the trees were ashes.

XxXxXxXxXx

Kirito, Asuna, and Suguha sat in an Inn in the hastily deserted town of Han. Agil and his people left the town to join with The Town of Beginnings. Well, that's what the note on the town entrance said, along with a few racial slurs. They were only a half day's walk till they get there and the fight off their lives will begin. PoH thought it was adorable that they are trying to fight back, so is giving them an extra day to prepare instead of charging in right now.

Asuna and Suguha were cuddling, and Kirito was sharpening his blade. The stone slid across the blade.

 _Shing_

 _Shing_

 _Shing_

"You know that we're attacking the day after tomorrow right?" Asuna said, trying to stop Kirito from making that awful noise. Sharpen your blade another time!

 _Shing_

"Yes, I Know"

 _Shing_

"And your girlfriend, or should I say ex-girlfriend, is over there right?"

 _Shing_

"Yes."

"You know she's going to die right?"

 _Shing_

"I know."

 _Shing_

"Are you prepared to kill her?"

Kirito looked up from his blade, his eyes hard.

"Yes."

 _Shing_

 _Shing_

 _Shing_

 **Am I watching so much TV that I'd go with an ending so cliche? Yes. Yes I am.**

 **The next chapter will take a little to write. It's my attempt at writing a war. But, I'm learning from the best. I've read** _ **The Red Badge of Courage,**_ **and** _ **The Dead and Those About To Die.**_ **I'm also reading two Naruto fanfictions, since they have swords and knives, on how this fight can happen. If you're interested, they're called Genius Sensei by AlexDnd and Team 7's ascension: blood wings by Eilyfe.**

 **I'm basing this massive fight scenes based off their wars. So there's your sneak peek. Ciao!**


	8. Preemptive Strike

**IMPORTANT PLOT POINT! Things in this chapter will escalate quickly. One moment they can be talking, and then in the next paragraph they'll be fighting off an invasion. So expect little to no peace in the next few chapters.**

Tensions were high, as the people realized war was coming. Many players didn't believe Thinker when he said they were going to be invaded, but with the trees set ablaze last night, and the four foot wall of ash surrounding the town, it was clear that he wasn't lying. They'd been at arms with laughing Coffin for the the past month. And the worst they've done in the past was only the impaled pole incident last month. No one expected that they would bring their army to their front door. The Town of Beginnings may have more people than Laughing Coffin, but Laughing Coffin's levels were higher than theirs on average. This would be the fight of their lives.

All the players got their weapons and armor repaired or replaced with better ones. With Lisbeth, Agil, and a dozen other blacksmiths, all the orders were filled in only a day. They all spent a few hours grinding the each gaining a level, two if they were lucky. Their weapons and armor are ready, their levels are average yet available, and they have a full proof plan that can't possibly fail. Everything is ready. All but their minds.

It's true that at least eighty percent of the town has killed someone by now, but that's only in the heat of the moment. It's that fucker Kirito's fault the killing started. If it wasn't for him, they might've been able to come together as a single town and work together to find a way out of the game. They all know that the Field of Slaughter was the only reason they killed in the first place. Only when you had to, and just that one time. And even though there is a new reason in the form of an army at their door, can these they actually gather the courage to kill again? The answer was simple: no, they can't. Those with doubt have been searching their minds, meditating for hours on end, and yet they all came to the sad conclusion that they cannot immediately kill another, even at the risk of death.

And let's be honest, even with all the training they received through a man who was half way through martial arts training when he entered the game, and the sword skills that take nearly hours to properly learn, they are not ready for a war, let alone a fight. Their odds of winning this war were so little, that some players every committed suicide. In short, they were fucked.

XxXxXxXxXx

Agil patrolled the camp of tents where his men resides. The ash was blown away by the wind, making way for the hundreds of tents scattered across the front of the town. He and his men willing asked to be on the front lines, the first defense against a group of savage murderers. These are among the top players in the whole game, even rivaling Kirito and PoH in level and skill. The plan is for them to fall back behind the wall using rope ladders once the fighting gets too rough, and set off the makeshift explosives in each tent. There _is_ a risk of blowing apart the walls, but they had faith in their construction team.

Agil walked the aisles of the tents, axe in left hand leaning against his shoulder. He trusted no one but himself, one hundred percent, to patrol. Unfortunately not everyone saw it that way and insisted that they have other guards in place. They all knew he was stronger than them, but ego can get you killed if you're not careful. His head moved left and right, observing his men as they sat in their tents. Some were stonefaced and serious, sharpening their blades and practicing their sword skills, while others were excited and happy for battle, giving toasts and getting drunk. Whether they're drunk or serious, Agil was proud nonetheless. These are his men. They came to him, for, some reason, and placed their trust in him. He took them in, trained them, taught them the honor of being a bartender; ground them into the find warriors they are now. And now, he was to lead his men into battle. The smile on his face couldn't be any more proud.

His smile vanished when he stopped before another patrol. The blonde, flaky man stood straight, giving a sloppy salute.

"Agil-kun! Nothing to report sir!" He said awkwardly.

"Son, you don't use Kun with my name. It's Sama or San. Get it right or don't use Japanese prefixes."

The man nodded embarrassed. "Sorry sir." Agil stared at him, waiting. "Oh yeah. Nothing to report, but Jim back there is getting quite tired, you should consider switching him out."

"I'll take it into advisement." the man nodded and left quickly, hoping to keep what was left of his dignity. Agil continued, changing course for the three tents of his lieutenants. These three powerful players, which is the most eligible to take Jim's place as sentry? Sean? The man known as the Fisherman. His net is the last thing you see before his trident impales your chest. No, he's too valuable an asset. Pulling the tent flap aside, he saw Sean's sleeping form, and heard the chainsaw like snore that came from his mouth. He wouldn't wake up anyways. He left, heading for a tent further away from the others.

Surely Sandy will do. Her keen eye and skill with a bow can find an enemy even in the nighttime. At one time, the brunette snipped enemies from atop a Canyon, all but two being killing blows. The other two was the leader of the bandits, whom Agil wanted to keep for questioning so he had her shoot him in the thigh, and the other was untouchable. The arrows went straight through his body, and when the men on the ground confronted him, a blinding flash of light emitted from his body. By the time their vision cleared, he was gone.

Other than that one instance, Sandy has never failed to defeat an opponent. She will be the best one for this job. As he nears her tent, he hears her cursing.

"Fuck! Fuck fuck! Fuck!" his mind went into overdrive, his instincts telling him she is under attack. He went into a run, raising his axe into the air for a quick strike. Then he heard the moaning. Oh. Well shit. "Cum for me! Fill my naughty cunt with your hot semen!" nope.

He left fast, not stopping until he reached the tent of his last lieutenant. An orange glow peeked out from the flaps, the sound of carving wood growing louder as he got closer. Argo was the only one he can entrust now. He pulled the flaps aside to find the young girl with a carving knife, carving the Kanji and Hiragana characters into the thin plate of wood. Argo didn't acknowledge his presence. The axe man sat across from her, drinking the cold cup of tea she had left on the table.

"Working on your diary again huh?" he asked as he set the cup down. The semi loud clank told the woman he was serious. Didn't help much though, as she kept carving into the wood. She went through four more wood papers before she finished her sentence, adult them to the ever growing pile. With that, she removed her hood and looked at her commanding officer.

"It's a journal Agil-san. I'm writing all my experiences in this game. Maybe when we get out, we can use this to sue the company. Best case scenario:" she took a sip of the tea, frowning in disdain at the taste. "Bleck!" she said dumping the tea and washing it down with water. All the while Agil chuckled, earning him a glare once the taste was gone.

"You've obviously never had alcohol before if you can't handle something like this."

"Shut it." she demanded, but smiled in the end anyways. "Where was I?"

"Suing Argus."

"Ah, right. Well, with this recounting of what we went through, we should get a cash settlement from Argus, probably in the millions. And even if we don't, I'm sure Argus is paying our families right now to compensate for their pain."

"So you have a family outside?"

"Only my fiance. Speaking of which, don't you have a wife back home? Why are you fucking that little blacksmith?"

Agil smiled. "The same reason you're jumping Sean. She will never know. Besides, it's just sex."

Argo chuckled. "True enough. So what do you want? Lisbeth is in the town."

"Actually, I just need you to take up post at front of the camp." it took several minutes of begging, negotiating, and threatening to get Argo to miss her afternoon nap. Laughing Coffin was to arrive tonight, so she wanted to take a nap for the upcoming battle. All Agil had to do to was promise her an extra two percent of the spoils. With his last job of the day taken care of, Agil made his way to his tent for a much needed nap just as dawn broke, passing 250 Soldiers on their way to the Laughing Coffin's location.

XxXxXxXxXx

Silica, once a weak little girl who always hid behind the wall of muscle named Agil, now a fierce warrior with a beautiful blue Dragon. Pina is wrapped in thick leather Dragon armor, made by Agil himself. Starting from the tailbone and ending halfway up the neck, covering her limbs while adding spiked talons. Atop her head is a steel helmet with a ring in front of the mouth for concentrated attacks. She and her Dragon brigade were stationed in the town square below the castle. All the dragons are also covered in armor.

Silica finished feeding Pina some rats before she addressed her men.

"Alright everyone, gather around!" the riders ceased their activities and quickly gathered around their leader. "Thinker-san is leading a group of 250 to confront Laughing Coffin for a preemptive strike. Our job is to fly over, providing backup and destroying their war machines. Apparently most of this town are spineless assholes, so we only have 430 people in this invasion of ours. For those on the ground, this is nothing short of a suicide attack. No one is expected to come out alive. Only the brave ones are here. Taking out the archers will ensure our victory in the invasion. Our secondary job is to carry the remaining 180 behind enemy lines. An attack from the front and in the middle. If we had enough, we'd also drop some behind them. For now, this will have to do. Each of our dragons will carry six people each, and we'll fly low enough to drop them down. Once they get here, we'll take off. Any questions?" one person raised their hand. "Yes you?"

"Is that them over there?" Silica spun around to see the 180 players they are supposed to carry.

"Yes they are….. How long have they-"

"The whole time."

"Well." she clapped her hands. "Let's move out!"

in two minutes, each Dragon had six people clutched in their back talons. They flapped their wings. Once. Twice. Thrice. And they are soaring through the air at magnificent speeds. Silica shut her eyes, letting Pina take the reigns so she can enjoy the ride. This feeling. This is what keeps her going. Silica had attempted suicide four times since the establishment of their small town. The pressure, the smell of blood, the guilt in her heart. Unlike Ashley, she can never get used to killing. Each person she kills is like a stab to her heart. After a killing spree, the guilt doesn't come until after it's over. When it does, what can only be described as survivors guilt kicks in. Even if it is kill or be killed, she can't handle the guilt and tried many times to kill herself. Agil and Lisbeth were always there to keep her from accomplishing it though. She was actually planning on mob suicide, but then she found Pina. The day her Dragon was able to fly, she took to the skies and didn't return for hours. The wind against her face, the heat of the sun, this is the feeling that keeps her sane in this world.

The warmth vanished, the light behind her lids got darker, and Pina growled. Silica opened her eyes, and gaped.

"My god." the survivor wasn't lying. Thousands. Literally thousands of Laughing Coffin members. Enough to cover the ground for miles on end. The dark clouds now covering the sky made it all the more scary. What they didn't know is that this was just the advanced team. She shook off the awe once she caught sight of the towers and trebuchets. The girl opened her inventory and took out a massive horn. Pina buckled under the new weight but stayed afloat. Silica put her lips to the reed, and blew one long note. It is loud enough so that the people on the ground can hear.

Thinker and his men hid in a patch of trees when she sounded the horn. He removed the sword from the scabbard, and pointed out at the oncoming army and screamed attack. His army charged forward.

"Pina. **Torpedo**!" the dragon opened her mouth, and a flame missile came out, and hit one of the archer towers. The tower exploded, sending wooden shards and flaming wood everywhere. Those within ten feet were either ripped to shreds or set ablaze. That familiar disparity settled in her chest once again, the voice urging her to jump off Pina to the death she greatly deserves. With a deep breath and sheer willpower, she pushed it back down. She can cry later. This is more important. The other Dragon riders followed her example, ordering their own to use the same attacks. Some of them missed, killing dozens of Laughing Coffin members at a time instead. Others were successful and blasted the war machines to bits. A spared trebuchet fought back, launching a boulder into the sky. Several dragons came together and blew it apart, the pieces landing on the players below.

With their front lines focused on the sky, Thinker and his men used the distraction to attack. Those on front attacked with a **Sonic Leap.** Those with their backs turned died instantly. Some were able to spin around to block it, but it didn't matter anyway. Coming up from behind are ten men with two handed hammers. Using their friends backs as a foothold they jumped into the air, weapons held overhead. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds, and they are now six feet in, bringing their hammers down they used the skill **Break**. Some hammers hit the floor, others on Laughing Coffin. Either way it didn't matter, as the attack was an AoE attack. Everyone within three feet of them was sent flying backwards, stunned and points taken off their HP. Now weak and disoriented, Thinker and his men pushed took three seconds to look around. A man with a sword charged him with a **Vertical.** A girl to his left was charging a **Slant** , and another girl to his right charging an **Uppercut.** Thinker countered with a parry before using three consecutive **Snake Bites**. His opponent blocked all three strikes, but his sword broke on the third, and he ended it with a **Rage Spike,** slicing through his neck and impaling the head. His previous technique let him dodge the two girls attacks, their swords clashing with each other instead. Spinning to his right, he used **Horizontal.** His blade removed the head of the first girl and stopped halfway through the head of the second. She's practically dead already so he searched for his next victim.

He jumped in front of an attack and parried it, jumping out of the way for one of his hammerers to jump up and use **Falling Stone** to bash open his head. Thinker ducked under a **Horizontal,** pushing his sword forward for a **Linear,** piercing the man's throat. . He ripped it out in time to parry a **Slant** , kicking the man's legs out and stabbing his sword down into the back of his skull. Thinker killed several more people, dodging and weaving, easily killing the weak and strong members.

His men are doing just as good. Working in teams of two, a Laughing Coffin member fell to their blades every five seconds. A parry, switch, kill, repeat. Nothing could get through them. Who knows, maybe they will be able to beat the whole army.

In the sky, Silica and her dragon brigade were making easy work of the war machines. The machines accuracy wasn't very good. And for those who have accuracy of the highest caliber, the speed and armor of their dragons was better. "Pina, **Breath Attack!** a wave of blue flames poured from her maw, setting members on fire and instantly killing some. Laughing Coffin backed away from the flames, forming a large circle clear of everything but the fire. Their point of entry. Silica ordered Pina to fly higher, once again taking out the horn and blowing several long and short notes. With their coordinates received, the dragons that had fallen back moved forward. Once over that spot, a small flap of their wings cleared the flames and dropped off the soldiers they carried. In twenty seconds, all 180 men were dropped off in the middle of their army, tankers on the outside with the rest on the inside. Their job is to be a literal tank, impenetrable on the outside, but a wave of death on the inside. Their swords and spears stabbed out at anyone that came close. Five groups were formed in this formation, all moving in different directions, and like a well oiled machine, doing it at once. When one got tired, a player further into the circle took his place and let them rest. The perfect formation.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

On a plateau several miles away, using the spell **Long Distance,** was the magic man Kirito had faced. On his lap is a basket of apples, and surrounding his body is a red barrier. From his point of view, the fighting going on down there looked like nothing more than a bunch of ants fighting each other. The blood coloring the players red made them resemble ants even more. With the spell he was able to look far into the distance.

"This is what I call entertainment. Maybe even better than that rape scene last week." Bite. Crunch. Crunch. "Naw. Not as good. Maybe I'll lend them a hand." He raised his right hand and spoke the ancient words to cast the spell. It was done. Suddenly, slim arms wrapped around him from behind, warm wet lips pressing against his neck.

"What spell was that?" she asked as she placed her head on his shoulder.

" **Myengu**. He answered, taking another bite of the fruit.

"Haste huh. Why're you helping them?"

"If I let the war go on too long it'll interfere with my plans. This'll just speed up the process."

"C'mon Maddox, there are easier ways to speed up the process."

"Like what?" Maddox said, practically saying "I'll humor you." the girl smiled.

"Send me there. I still don't have my ten thousand yet." He smiled. His hand swipped down, opening the menu and maneuvering to the logout button. It was there. Ready to be used, highlighted in yellow.

"OK Sachi, go for it." the bluenette rose from her croch, casting several spells on herself to increase her strength, speed, and overall damage. He made a gap in the barrier and Sachi took off at rapid speed. Sachi got her first kill after her best friends tried to rape her. She had nearly gotten them killed, and they were so angry they took it out on her. Sachi was able to take out her knife, slitting the throat of Keita then killing the rest. Using black magic, Maddox changed her personality so she liked the feeling she gets from killing someone. It worked perfectly, and now she is the girl of his dreams. With a content sigh, he leaned back on the palms of his hands, shutting his eyes and looking up at the sky. A god. He is nothing short of a god. No one in this game even close to his level. In only two months, he got his ten thousand kills, yet refuses to leave because of the power he holds here. The world outside is too boring. This makes it fun.

Maddox chuckled as he opened his eyes.

A man. Wearing red robes. No face under his hood, and hovering above the ground.

Maddox jumped to his feet, putting his hand out and sending out blasts of lightning at Kayaba. Dodge to the left, right, into the air, landing before Maddox and grabbing his wrist with a gloved hand and forced it up, sending the beam into the barrier, thus shattering it. With a grip strong enough to be considered torture, maneuvered his hand to open the menu till his finger hovered over the logout button. Maddox's eyes widened, whispering please no over and over.

"I honestly don't care." Kayaba said in that voice, the one that gave everyone in the game nightmares for weeks. "When you logout you can't get back in. I'm just curious. Why are you still here?" so, he's not going to kick him out? Maddox heaved a sigh, nearly falling to his knees in relief. He looked up at Kayaba and smiled.

"To become a God." he heard a chuckle.

"There are no gods, both in this world and the real one. But there are demons. If that is what you want to be, then go ahead, I won't stop you. Just do me a favor CENSORED." Maddox gasped, hearing his real name called for the first time in months. "Entertain me." Just as last time, Kayaba exploded into smoke, letting Maddox fall to his knees. Fear. For the first time since his dad came home drunk, he felt fear. Kayaba. If anyone in this game is a god it is him. He swallowed several times before willing himself to get back up. Now on his feet, he overlooked the battlefield once more, seeing balls of fire fly everywhere from one point: Sachi.

"You want entertainment Kayaba?" He used **Long Distance** to look into the trees where he sensed three people. Standing there, watching the battle go on are three players, one guy and two girls. "Then I'll give you a show." he raised his hand, chanting a spell for several seconds until finally, a worn yellow rolled up map appeared in his now clenched hand. The scroll levitated and shot off towards the small group. With his plan underway, Maddox left the area with a vindictive smile.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Thinker laughed. During battle, it is a rare action, one almost no one ever does. Their enemy was being taken down easily. If he was able to send a signal to Silica, he can have the rest of the town come here and they'd be able to chase them back. His sword broke in two when he used a **Snake Bite** , so he has to use his knife, Makes it easier though. Just as he raised his knife to reflect off the sun in morse code, Thinker saw him.

Tall, black cloak, dagger in right hand.

"Hi. I'm PoH. I'm here to kill you, take your town and rape your children." the man said with a smile, all the while getting closer. Thinker backed up slowly. A mistake. A sign of weakness Poh plans to take advantage of. "You know you can't win against me. Your sword is broken, and I've had more than enough experience fighting with a dagger to be considered an expert. Fighting me is an inevitable death. And if you try to run, I'll just catch up and kill you. My **Sprint** skill is two hundred and twenty. " Thinker felt his jaw drop open. Another sign of weakness. One of Thinker's men flew at PoH, only to get kicked in the gut and get his spine sliced. Paralysis that'll take weeks to cure. He'll lie in that field, left to wait the remaining hours of his life as a large rat slowly eats him alive. "So, you only have two options. Join me, or die, What'll it be? You have five seconds to decide. Five-" he didn't need to think on it. He's not a coward, he's a soldier!

Thinker used **Linear** , launching himself at the leader with tremendous speed. As the leader of the military, he can't afford to lose this fight. PoH barely had time to block it with his own blade, surprised that he actually chose die. Then he chuckled. A worthy opponent.

"Alright, we're doing this then!" The two fought, knives clashing against each other hard enough to make sparks. They used quick strikes, jumping in to give a few jabs before launching themselves backwards to avoid his retaliation as all of them were blocked or deflected. Conventional tactics failed, so they changed to dirty, aiming kicks for the groin, throwing dirt to blind the eyes, screaming suddenly to startle the enemy. Grabbing their own men and pushing them in front of the attack so they won't die.

Thinker threw a kick at PoH's head. The murderer raised his right hand to block it, then threw his dagger to his left hand and thrust it towards Thinker's achilles tendon. Acting quickly, Thinker pushed away using his other foot, landing on the left and pushing forward for **Linear** , getting it parried, so he followed it up by **Slant**. Dodging to the left, PoH used **Horizontal**. Thinker bent backwards, the knife barely above it nose. He got back up and used **Sharp Nail.** The three strikes were all blocked with ease, and PoH came forward for a simple stab to the neck, only for Thinker to block it. As the two pushed their blades against each other, PoH went back to his tactics. "Come on Thinker-san, with me you'll be a king! What's the most you'll get here? Commander of the military while Kibaou gets to fuck all the women he wants?! That's not living, It's Pathetic! With me you'll have everything you want: women, Col, power."

" **Ember!"** several small balls of fire rained down from the sky. The two pushed away from each other as the flames hit the earth, creating a wall of flames between the two.

"See! Even with your dragons support you can't beat me. Just come with me back to my base!"

"The only place I'd follow you, is into the real world. Otherwise you can go fuck yourself!" the durability on his knife was dangerously low. One more skill is all he has. **Snake Bite** it is. He ran at PoH while charging the technique, his opponent doing the same with a **Slant** from the right. Just before they met, Thinker and his men were hit with the **Haste** spell. He didn't know what had just happened, but Thinker knew he had the advantage now. He threw his whole weight into the attack, the speed aiding to the damage. As expected, his knife broke in two, but the force was was strong enough to knock PoH's knife from his hand. PoH's shocked look was the advantage he needed, pulling his arm back and delivering a palm strike to his chest. He was sent flying backwards onto his back, unmoving.

He was dead for about three seconds, the system not able to comprehend if his heart was still beating. He came back to life with a hoarse deep breath, coughing as he made his way back to his feet. Finally recovered, looking up at his opponent, he found the knife, the one he had for a little less than a month, emotionally attached to nonetheless, in the hands the one who just bested him, and in a cliche manner that'll piss even Kirito off, said, "Missing something?"

PoH had no other choice, turning tail and running away using his **Sprint** skill. Thinker wouldn't have it, using the power form the haste spell to follow him. The spell allowed him to keep up with PoH, slashing the knife at him with deadly accuracy. It took several shallow cuts for PoH to realize that he was in trouble, the green bar turning yellow. Using all the concentration possible, PoH opened his inventory and managed to take out another knife just as his HP hit red. He swiped back at Thinker, cutting away several of his life points. PoH went for a powerful strike, but Thinker pulled back from it before picking up his speed again to stab the leader in the back. PoH dodged to the left, barely, and stabbed to the right. Thinker pushed forward to dodge, stepping in front of PoH and stopping in place with his right arm out of a backwards lariat. PoH somersaulted over the outstretched limb, landing on his feet and using the momentum to keep going. Thinker took off after him.

Their game of cat and mouse carried on throughout the battlefield, both on the Town of Beginnings side and deep into Laughing Coffin territory. Those fighting saw nothing but a blur as they went by, either causing a distraction that let them kill their opponent, or went completely ignored, just a gust of wind. Those with the **Sprint** skill were able to see them, and some even tried to interfere, only to get a slit throat or a stab in the heart. Surprisingly, and because the author wants to have an epic battle (lol) their battle was taken into the air when PoH jumped onto the back of a low flying dragon. He didn't hijack the beast, mostly because the dragon would kick someone uninvited off, he just jumped from dragon to dragon, spending only a few seconds on each dragon to find their next landing spot. Thinker wouldn't be outdone. Instead of waiting for a low flier, he increased his speed, using it to power his high jump into the sky and onto a dragon.

The rider felt the added weight, turning around to see the general on her green dragons back. "Sir, how'd you get up here?"

"No time to explain, follow that man!" She looked to where he pointed, seeing the black blur hopping from dragon to dragon. It's a good thing her dragon is named Wind for a reason. The dragon took off in pursuit, Thinker just managing to grab onto the saddle to avoid falling off. She flew high in the air before flying forward, catching up with PoH after a five minute flight.

"Thanks for the ride, uh.."

"Shoottjk." She answer, Thinker raising a brow in response. "Don't ask." Thinker made a mental note of that name, intent on telling Silica to give her a promotion of sorts when they get back, and jumped off the dragon in a nose dive.

Just as PoH jumped off the dragon, Thinker crashed into him. The two grappled in mid air for a few seconds before PoH managed to push him off, landing on a dragon and speeding away, Thinker hot on his heels. Their blades now clashed in mid air, in what could only be called a Lord of The Rings worthy fight.

They landed on one particular dragon, the largest one there, and spent several seconds fighting on it before Silica noticed. "Pina, take it from here." her dragon nodded, taking over the fighting in her stead. Silica released the reins, standing up and taking her sword out and joining in the clash. She jumped in to parry an attack and used **Deadly sins,** a seven hit combo move where she spins, slashes and somersaults over her opponent. PoH was able to block the first three hits, but not the last four, sending his health to ten percent. Thinker followed up with a **Slant**. PoH jumped backwards to avoid it, ducking and rolling under Silica's Horizontal and stabbing forward for a Linear. He side stepped,and used **Vertical**. PoH spun to his right, stopping to use an **Uppercut** on Silica. The technique hit, the force sent her off the dragon. Luckily she managed to grab onto the tail. Pina felt her friend grab on, and whipped her tail forward, sending her rider into the sky. As Silica descended, she used **Break**. Although a technique designed for hammers and other blunt weapons, she got passed the system but grabbing her blade and using the handle as her blunt part. The force behind the attack sent her back down onto Pina, landing in time to block a **Slant** for Thinker, the latter responding with a **Rage Spike.** Just like Silica, this uppercut technique sent PoH off the dragon plummeting towards the ground.

PoH flipped around so he faced the oncoming ground, looking around desperately for something to break his fall. His desperation blinded him, not seeing the archer tower until he was right next to it. He turned to the right, and using both hands stabbed into the wood. It slowed his fall enough to take his HP down to five instead of zero when he landed on his back. As he got back up, he saw Thinker heading towards him in a nose dive. Acting quickly, PoH removed a healing crystal from his cloak, crushing it in his hands to heal him. His HP hit thirty when Thinker activated **Break** , following Silica's example and using the handle of the knife. It hit thirty five when the skill hit, PoH blocking with his forearm. The points dropped down to twenty before it continued rising, stopping at seventy. Thinker flipped over PoH, landing on his feet behind him, flipping the blade over and using **Horizontal,** aiming to remove his head.

Then Kirito came. Jumping in front of his master-er, boss, and blocking it with one of his swords, and swinging the other one down at Thinker's head. Thinker leapt backwards, getting into a new stance now that he had two opponents, changing the knife to a reverse grip.

"And my ultimate weapon appears just in time." PoH said with a gleeful smile. Kirito held back a wince and being called a weapon, practically a tool, and got into his familiar dual wield stance. PoH attacked first, delivering several **Slants** before jumping back to let Kirito attack. Thinker had blocked all the strikes and parried the first slash of Kirito's combo move **Starburst Stream.** It's a combo attack that delivers twelve strikes in total, six from each sword. If it wasn't for the **Haste** spell, Thinker would have died on the first five strikes. He blocked the last strike, Kirito jumping backwards before the delay could take effect. Thinker used **Horizontal,** aiming to slit his throat. The delay ended milliseconds before the knife cut him, and bent far backwards in time. Thinker flipped the knife back to a forward grip, jumped into the air and brought it down for a **Vertical** just as Kirito straightened himself. PoH jumped in just in time to parry it, sending Thinker two feet back. PoH used **Linear** just as Thinker landed, the delay taking effect, and succeeded, his knife stabbing hilt deep into his gut.

Thinker purposely gave into the attacks effects, coughing up blood right into PoH's face to blind him. PoH removed the knife, stepping away and rubbing the blood from his eyes whilst cursing up a storm. Kirito was tired of this fight. He knew that once Thinker died, the battle would be over, their morale broken. He got into a stance, positioning his right sword above his head, and the left by his hip. The position for the ultimate dual wield technique: **The Eclipse.**

It was at this moment that Sachi appeared.

Sachi changed her appearance so she looks like the grim reaper, dressing in a brown cloak with beating red eyes. Did i mention she was several stories tall. The red cursor above her head made it even more believable that she's a mob.

The fighting ceased to stare at what appeared to be a mob. PoH met a similar mob before when he and a scouting team first entered that cave entrance to the Town of Beginnings. He backed away in fear, mouth agape and eyes now red. His legs almost gave out at the mere sight of it.

"E-Everyone retreat!" He screamed in terror as loudly as possible. "Get as far away from it as possible! It can kill us all! It's attracted by negative emotions, more will certainly come!"

Sachi had to hold her laughter, the sight and sound of a powerful opponent reduced to this squabbling mess. She raised her hand to the air, a massive ball of blue flames in her hands. The sight of these flames sent everyone packing. Thinker's men were able to get away in time.

But Thinker himself wasn't so lucky.

Kirito ignored the fear in his gut, finishing the stance requirement for his technique. Thinker may be fast, but not faster than him. Just as he turned to run, Kirito activated the technique.

And after sixteen strikes, the general fell, dead.

Hundreds of smaller fireballs launched from the one in her hand, like a machine gun with flaming bullets. In only minutes, half of the laughing coffin was dead or dying, the rest managing to get away in time, so the while Sachi laughed, her kill count entering the nine thousands.

XxXxXxXxXx

Ashley, Aaron, and Indigo watched the whole battle from the trees, analyzing the fighting styles of both sides. They paid particular attention to fight between PoH and Thinker. They didn't really see the need of leveling the **Sprint** skill, their ego telling them that they'll never have to run away. Now that they've seen the offensive capabilities the skill possesses, they plan to level it quite a bit when they get back.

"It's a shame Thinker died though." Ashley said, truly saddened by the death of someone who only wanted good for the citizens. He'd even risk his life in this suicide attack just to give them a better chance in the invasion, something Ashley could never do. Not would, but could. It is actually physically and mentally impossible for her to put others before herself and her friends. The mere sight of Kirito is the only reason she feels sorry, because he, for an unexplainable reason, gives her some of her humanity back.

"Don't be too sad." Indigo said smiling as she realized the implications of his death means. "Now that he's gone, there'll need to be a replacement." she turned to look her in the eye. "You're the third highest rank in the military. Both of them died." it took her a few moments, but once she got it, her eyes widened in realization. Indigo giggled, patting her friend on the back. "Congratulations, Commander Ashley." the title knocked the girl from her shock, turning the agape mouth into a bright smile.

"I think that's enough data." Aaron said, turning off the diamond shaped recording device. "C'mon, we need to head back before they notice." He smiled at Ashley. "We can't have the new Commander out of the Town can we? Let's-" the map hit Aaron square in the chest. The force sent him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He heaved and coughed, trying to get oxygen into his lungs. Ashley took the map from his chest while Indigo helped him sit up. "Who threw that piece of paper at me?" he asked hosrsley. Ashley looked over it, her mouth slowly dropping open as she did. "What is it?"

Ashley flipped it around to show them. On the bottom of the page is where the Town of Beginnings is, marked by a legend with a circle symbol, and at the top of the max is an X. On the legend it says magic. A quarter of the way up the map is a a forest, and a mountain range. The rest of the map up until the star is blank.

"it did come out of nowhere. Must be Kayaba." Indigo said. "We probably met some kind of requirement for magic so he sent this to us." makes sense. Helping Aaron back to his feet, she continued his previous statement. "Let's hurry back to town." Ashley nodded. Before leaving though, she ran to the middle of the field, telling the two she'll catch up. She arrived at Thinker's body, tapping on it and emptying everything into her own. She had purposely cleared her inventory, putting it in a chest back at their house. She did this to get her hands on as many spoils as possible.

Lastly she grabbed the knife.

" _ **Mate Chopper**_ huh?" she said analyzing the sword. High durability, more power than her own sword. She smiled.

 **My god this was painful to write! I spent a whole half hour each night debating whether to work on this or my book and other fanfiction. Dudes this was hard. I hoped you enjoy this! Ciao!**


	9. Crossing Blades

**How many times do you want to die? I'd reckon it'd be as many as possible. You don't want to die to stop existing. You want to die so you may have another life. You shall be reborn. You shall come back as a new man. Maybe in this life you shall have kids. Maybe a loving father this time. Maybe a friend who will not stab you in the back multiple times for an ounce of coke! Doesn't that sound good? Doesn't that sound like ideal life compared to this hell hole. Here's a rope. There's a tree. You can do it. Do it right now! Claim the life you so greatly deserve.**

 _ **Stupid, Naive human. You know nothing of the workings of life and death. You think one can simply commit suicide and they will have a better life? Or escape the suffering with no life at all. Expected from nothing but a human. You will not live a good life if you kill yourself. My laws say that you will burn in the lake of fire for all eternity! All one must simply do is attempt to live thie rlife to the fullest, and then they shall be reborn, into a life greater than the one they have now.**_

 **And you call me hypocritical. What if a wealthy and famous person lives the perfect life, to its fullest. How is it that you would give him a life better than that? Well?! You gonna give him even more money? Are you going to give him more wives and children All you could do is make him rich, and this time give him a big dick! I am disappointed in this. In you. There are many things you could've done better. Many lives you could've saved! How dare you fuck up our lives this badly! It's okay though. I will let the whole world know that lives are forfeit.**

XxXxXxXxXx

When Ashley thought of the trenches used during world War one, she thought of soldiers desperately fighting for control of the each individual trench, slowly moving through the thousands of miles of manmade holes.

What she didn't expect was complete and utter boredom. She'd been sitting in the same trench for the past two weeks. Normally she'd be able to entertain herself by doing some training, getting off the muddy dirt and swinging her blade through the air, but the second she stands up, a volley of arrows is sent flying in her direction. The "twong" of the arrow being released is the only alert given, her body having been hunched over for the past two weeks barely allows her to duck back down, occasionally getting grazed.

The result? They began to dig deeper. Already four feet deep and they need to keep digging. It only took ten handfuls of dirt for her to get the ground rot status effect. Her hp went down slowly, but it didn't bother her. Because for the first time since she joined this game, she was afraid.

The Town of Beginnings has lost thirty-two percent of their population, while Laughing Coffin only lost twenty. The war was not in their favor. Their surprise attack on them did a good amount, but their retaliation attack did more. They managed to get three miles into the town before they got pushed out.

A small beeping noise alerted her to the health bar, now in the red. A hand came into her vision, holding the beautiful red fruit called the apple. Following the hand, she found the smiling face of Agil. Ashley smiled her thanks, taking the apple vigorously digging into it. Soon get health was back in the green, and they continued digging.

"How long?" Agil asked.

"A whole fucking month." answered, thrusting a handful of dirt into the air. Agil whistled.

"Damn. When was backup supposed to come?"

"Three days ago. I'm surprised we're not dead yet. Starvation and dehydration ought to have kicked out by now."

"Well when it rains constantly, that's not really an issue." they fell back into an awkward silence, their hands continuing to dig into the dirt.

Arrows whizzed over their heads by the dozens. They looked up to see a dragon fly by delivering a **Torpedo** before turning back around. The explosion and raining of splinters told them that backup had arrived.

"Give me a boost!" Ashley demanded as she removed a sword from the sheathe. She stepped into Agil's cupped hands and hauled herself to the top of the trench.

A battlefield, ravaged by war. The ground was littered with bodies, broken arrow shafts buried into the gray muddy dirt. Twelve Archer Towers in sets of four arranged in diamond formation. Behind these towers are six barracks where a dozen Laughing Coffin members ran out, swords drawn. Another tower got hit by a **Torpedo,** bringing the count down to ten. Ashley scaled the tower, peeking over the top before jumping in and slicing the throats of the three archers. One archer in the next tower noticed her, turning so the arrow was now aimed at her head. Agil came just in time, destroying one of the support beams so the archers were knocked off balance and fell out, the two ton structure falling on top of them for an instant death.

The blonde gave a quick thanks to Deus Ex Machina before jumping off and joining her fellow Soldiers in fighting the oncoming force, leaving Agil to take care of the Archers.

Above in the air Shoottjk rode her green dragon Obnoxious. She scanned the ground with the intent on finding PoH. Builds too big. Too skinny. Using a sword not a dagger. "Damn. Not here. Obnoxious, **Droppings,** and **Sweep."** the dragon nodded, turning to face the army towers below and firing a single ball of fire, which blew up into a dozen balls, and flapping his wings to increase the power of the flames. Four towers got blown to bits, and six enemy Soldiers set ablaze, three dying from the flames and the other three from the other players.

"Aim carefully!" shouted Silica as she dived by, Pina using **Breath Attack** on the barracks, killing whatever Soldiers remained inside. Well except for one.

Back on the ground, Ashley faced off against three opponents, and despite her skill, they were winning. " _So this is how Laughing Coffin fights."_ she thought, eyeing the blue liquid coating each of their blades. She had just managed to find the patterns in their attacks, but just before she was about to capitalize, saw someone from the corner of her eye get grazed by a sword and immediately fall to the floor, his body glowing blue for a second.

Paralysis poison.

To risky to take on.

So now, one of the most powerful players in the game, was forced to dodge every single strike from the average ranking members of Laughing Coffin.

Side step. Jump back. Leap to the left. Bend backwards, and falls onto her back. She saw a blade come down towards her head, barely able to muster the speed to tilt it to the side in time. Another sword aimed at her chest, and her blade barely came up in time to parry it and block the third sword.

A kick to the head dazed her, the once 20/20 vision going blurry. It cleared just as one member thrusted a sword at her stomach. Ashley rolled to the right, saw another blade going for her head and rolled backwards onto her feet. Dodge. Dodge. Parry. Side step. Parry. A second parry. A third parry! Once again Ashley found herself knocked down on the floor, raising her sword with two hands and desperately doing what she can to avoid death. Block to the left. To the right. Kicking a sword away. Block to the chest, grabbing the blade inches from her neck with her hand. Her breathing was ragged, a thick layer of sweat coated her body, including on her hand, allowing the blade to slowly make its way towards her throat. She can't keep this up for much longer. She isn't strong. She is only strong when her friends are with her. Aaron and Indigo weren't there. They're off somewhere on the front lines.

What happened to the plan? They were supposed to be Gods in this game. Kibaou was supposed to die. Adolter would take his place, and Ashley would lead from the shadows She was to control the town that would dominate the world of SAO, and Indigo and Aaron would be her right hand men. That plan has gone all to hell. Kiabou is stronger than ever, Adolter has gone down a few ranks since the war has begun, and Ashley was only commander of the military for a day before Laughing Coffin attacked, the casualties ruining her reputation and making her lose the job of commander.

Indigo is off somewhere leading a twenty man strike team on Laughing Coffin occupied territories, the towns in between the Town of Beginnings and Laughing Coffin, now referred to as the Dead Zone. She is now actually ranked higher than Ashley on the army ranks, only one away from being eligible to be commander once the next one dies. Of course, if Adolter dies, then their whole plan will no longer be a working one. Indigo will be the next commander, but they won't have control of the state once the war is over.

Aaron is in search of the location on that magic map they got. It took a week for them to clean up the town, even with the Build Team doing the repairs. After the repairs was finished, Aaron made sure that he wasn't seen and left the town with the map. If there is even a chance he'll be able to find the place of magic, he'll take it without a second thought. Magic is what'll get them the best advantage in this game, and will ensure that they are the first ones to leave the game. The bad news is that the location is after the Redwood mountains. Just beyond Laughing Coffin's main base is a series of mountains. A walk/run that'll take months to get to. According to the map, Magic is located just beyond that range. It has been eight months since he left, and three months since she's been stuck in that trench.

These trenches makes up the area between each individual small village. There are at least twenty of them between each village, the one on the end being the longest with many archer towers at the end. This is their last trench before reaching the small village of Tuna-Yogurt. An acceptable name for such as place, as it constantly rains, is muddy as hell, and smells like Tuna. A mass suicide had occurred in this spot, their bodies left to rot, leaving behind the bad smell. The scent is compared to tuna, and the mud compared to yogurt. Hence the name. Tuna-Yogurt is the second to last village before they reach Aardvark, the last village separating them from Laughing Coffin. The gaps between villages gets wider though, and the members more dangerous and plentiful. It's taken them months to get this far, losing thirty-two percent of their population, with plenty of members left in Laughing Coffin. If there are this many people in each village, how many are in the actual base itself.

Ashley was knocked out of her thoughts by the point of the sword enter the flesh on her neck. Using the last ounce of strength in her, she pushed the sword away, saving her jugular from a slashing. The girl rolled backwards onto her feet, knowing she only has ten seconds before the poison goes through her body and paralyzes her.

The opening was right before her. All three men slowly rising to their feets after she got to hers. She capitalized, positioning the sword to her top left and using **Slant** on the man closest to her on the left. He managed to jump away in time, getting ready for a **Slant** of his own. Ashley was faster though, repositioning the sword at her hip and using **Linear** mid attack. The sword pierced his stomach, twisted to the left and ripped out through his right side, just in time for her sword to block the **Vertical Slash,** kick the man in the stomach, raising the blade and thrusting it down into his heart. Ashley removed her sword as she jumped backward and out of range of the man's **Horizontal,** placing the sword art her hip and using **Linear.** The man swung the sword to the left, parrying the attack. Both their delays ended, the man using **Slant,** Ashley blocking, and pushing forward to ram her forehead against his nose. He staggered backwards, grasping the bleeding nose and grunting in pain. She ran at him, side stepping a hastily thrown **Vertical** and simply thrusting the sword into his throat.

As his HP dropped to zero, Ashley leaned forward, a smile on her face strong enough for the Laughing Coffin member to feel. "I win." she said just as his HP hit, sending him to the void. A second later the poison took effect and she fell to the floor paralyzed. Agil found her and used a potion to cure her of the poison. She thanked the large man, drank a health potion, and shouted in victory, beginning a wave of yelling and screaming from the other soldiers.

The shouting ceased when someone emerged from the barracks rubble. Ashley eyed the man, looking at the dangerous weapon in his hands. This was an inevitability. She has long since made peace with it. Who would have thought that for three months these two were only a hundred feet away from each other. Ashley put her sword away, taking out _**Mate Chopper**_ instead.

Kirito smiled, eyeing the familiar weapon in her hand. "So that's where it went huh?" Kirito said, stepping off a stone block and onto the muddy floor, both walking closer to the other. "I went back to retrieve it for him, but it wasn't there."

Ashley returned the smile, getting into her fighting stance, body low to the ground, legs and shoulder ready to spring forward. "I found it. It looked interesting. The weapon of a mass murderer."

Kirito got into his own stance, sword on the sides of his hips, legs bent, left one forward. "It's funny. I was watching the whole thing from afar. My scouting skill let me observe everyone on the battlefield. And you weren't there."

"Would you believe me if I said I was one of those sent to retrieve the bodies?"

"No." her smile got bigger.

"Too bad." the field remained quiet. Archers stood in the back, arrows drawn fully and aimed at the exposed body of Kirito. No body armor? No protection of any kind? No trees to hide behind. Like shooting fish in a barrel. The dragons hovered in mid air, their maws open and charging a **Torpedo.**

The archers fired. Dozens of arrows flying through the air at impossible to follow speeds. Kirito, However, is impossible. He dodged left and right, swords coming up and deflect the ones coming to close. He was nothing but a blur to the men.

"Fire!" yeled the Silica. All at once the concentrated red beam of fire blasted from their mouths. Kirito changed his tactics, sprinting towards Ashley to avoid the **AoE** attack. He ignored the explosions going off behind him, eyes locked on the girl before him. He was close enough. There's no way he can dodge in this distance was the thought process of Ashley as she used **Horizontal.** She was proved wrong when the gust of wind blew past her.

" _What! He dodged it?"_ a gust of wind from behind alerted her to his presence. She spun on her heels, dagger raised just in time to block the double **Vertical Slash** by his swords. Using all her strength she flung him backwards, the swordsman digging his heels into the mud to stop his momentum. Ashley didn't waste time, rushing him with a series of **Vertical Squares** and **Snake Bites.** He blocked the **Vertical Squares,** dodged the **Snake Bites,** and charged at her with **Starburst Stream.** The **Consecutive** skill allows her to use six Sword skills consecutively before the delay kicks in, added up in the end. Ten whole seconds. The smirk on his face couldn't be any more smug, swords raised in the first circular strike of the hit.

Twong. Twong. Twong.

The sounds of arrows releasing sent him hopping backwards, swords coming up to deflect all the arrows. He'd almost forgotten about the archers and dragons. Their attacks rained down from the sky in his direction. Kirito was pushed further and further away from Ashley. If it wasn't for the archers, the dragons support, she wouldn't stand a chance. But she _does_ have archers on her side. She _does_ have dragons in the air. With support like this, she can definitely win. The delay ended, she placed the knife at her right hip and used **Linear.** Kirito took the attack, the flat of the blade hitting him would do no damage. Kirito raised his right arm and brought it down in a **Vertical.** Ashley threw her body to the left, landing in a roll, onto her feet and jumped to the right, using **Horizontal.** Kirito leaped back out of range and attacked her with a **Vertical** using his right sword **.** She sidestepped to the left. Kirito anticipated this, his left hand already swinging in a **Horizontal.** Ashley did the splits, or tried, to dodge the swing, and swung the sword from right to left in a **Slant** at his left leg. Kirito bent his knees and pushed off the ground into the air above the strike, and threw his right leg at Ashley's head as she stood back up.

Ashley raised her left arm, blocking the kick, wincing at the stinging pain ringing through the limb. She pushed past the pain, grabbed the leg, and pulled him towards herself and the blade flying through the air. Kirito raised his left sword and blocked the hit, following up with a second kick from his left leg. Ashley released the limb and ducked under his kick. The swordsman twisted his body in the air to deliver a **Vertical,** intent on splitting her in half. Her instincts kicked in, her right hand rising up to block the strike with her knife. The two pushed away from each other, giving Ashley some breathing room. The swordsman dodged several fire attacks and deflected some arrows before getting into his stance, once again charging up his **Starburst Stream.**

Ashley could barely keep up. The mud may have slowed him down but it slowed her down as well. He is too fast for both the archers _and_ the Dragons. It's amazing that she is still alive now. And with **Starburst Stream** charging, her life could end soon enough.

It finished, and he charged at her. The attack started with a double circular strike from right to left. Ashley barely managed to duck under it, the skill itself doubling his speed and power. The second attack was his left sword swing back in a **Horizontal,** the girl raising her dagger to block the hit. Kirito's right sword went up over his left one and was brought down for a **Vertical.** She disengaged, leaping backwards away from the strike. It is at this point that she was unable to keep up any longer. The sword strikes kept coming, hitting her so quickly she couldn't keep track of where her wounds were. All she could do was raise the knife and swing it back and forth over her body in ope it would block or deflect an attack. After what felt like an hour, the attack was in its last strikes, a jab to the head with his right sword and a jab to her torso with his left. This final attack took a second to charge up, long enough for Ashley to see it coming. She managed to raise the dagger and catch the attack. She held it up the wrong way though, the blunt end catching the attack, and the sharp one facing her.. The force sent her own knife into her skull, the blade a quarter of a centimeter away from touching her frontal lobe.

She wasn't able to block the body blow. The sword went straight through her armor, her liver, and out her back. Kirito removed the blade, turn, and sprinted away just as Agil's ax swung down. Kirito ran laughing. Agil looked back at Ashley. The girl removed the dagger from her head, put it back in her inventory, and promptly fell unconscious.

"Medic! I need a medic over here!"

 **Sorry this took so long. I finally finished the outline of my book, and can't be happier with how I ended it. Most of my efforts was spent on that.**

 **Till next time. Ciao!**


	10. An inevitably Actually

**Honestly guys, I have to force myself to write this. It's gotten kind of dull since I fell into that depression half a year ago, and when a story becomes dull for me, it is neigh on impossible for me to bring it back to glory.**

 **So if anyone wants to adopt this story, pm me. My readers, I wouldn't expect any updates for this any time soon.**

 **For those who want to adopt, I actually have the entire plot of the story from beginning to end written out. I'll give it to you so you can start it over. Or if you readers want to know what is supposed to happen, just pm me and I'll send it to you.**

 **My god this is pathetic, three stories canceled for something that happened months ago. I'm sorry to disappoint you and hope you understand.**

 **Ciao!**


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